This is a gift, it comes with a price
by Efcia
Summary: Everything in this world comes with price, especially impossibilities. Yet, there're people who willingly pay this price… post-Inception struggles with dangers of real and dream world and... love.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So, that's my attempt in post-Inception fic, taking place directly after the Job. Because it's me writting it probably there'll be angst, but not as much as in "Confusion", I want to give it a little more action. And I'm very aware that there's a lot of stories like that, but well... Every one of them is different and I have some ideas I really want to put into paper. All language and grama mistakes are mine, my only explanation for them is that English isn't my first language. I hope you'll like it and even if you don't, please leave a review. Constructive criticism (which also includes correcting my language mistakes) are always much appreciated.**

**The title of this story comes from song _Rabbit Heart (raise It Up) _by Florence And The Machine. Of course I do not own this song. I also do not own Inception or any of its characters. To me belongs only my own plot and my own characters.**

The sunlight is so bright that forced Ariadne to close her eyes. However, she doesn't mind it all; it's a perfect excuse for tears forming in her eyes. She curses silently, wiping away dampness from her cheeks with her hand.

She would never ever cry because of them. Not because Saito or Yusuf. Of course not because of Eames nor Cobb. And definitely not because of Arthur.

_Arthur._

Her heart flutters violently. He's not far away from her, talking with man, probably cab driver. His head tilted slightly to right side, gesture as always gentle.

_Don't look at him, it's just stupid._

But she's still looking. It doesn't take her a long time to realize that something's wrong. Something in Arthur's face and the shape of thing in other man's hand, strangely familiar.

_Gun. _

Ariadne feels a little nauseated when she realizes that nobody else, not even one person is aware of what's happening right now. She observes Arthur taking seat in can and her foots take an involuntary step. Before she's able to even think, she's getting into the same cab, a fake smile on her face.

"I'm so sorry!", she speaks and giggles a little, hoping to cover her nervousness. "I thought it's free! Maybe we can share?"

Arthur stares at her and for the first time since she met him he looks completely shocked. Yet he recovers within seconds.

"I don't think so.", he answers coldly. "I'd rather you get off this car.". Something in his eyes plead her to do so, but Ariadne's too determinate even to notice that.

"I insist. I insist, Arthur.", she speaks, surprising herself. It startles also Arthur, who's looking at her wide-eyed for a second.

"Get out.", he snaps finally. The man sitting in front passengers seat narrows his eyes slightly on this words.

"I think lady is staying.", he says lazily.

"She has nothing to do with anything!", Arthur protests fervently.

But driver already starts engine. Car is ridding slowly and Ariadne stares through window, purposefully avoiding looking at Arthur. She feel strange. Her reason screams at her loudly that she's doing the stupidest thing at her whole life. Yet, something in her is telling her that she couldn't act differently.

She couldn't leave Arthur.

When car stops, she let one of men pull her out of car.

"Don't even dare to move", he warns her, ready to use gun in his hand.

Ariadne gulps, watching Arthur getting out of the car.

And then chaos regains.

Ariadne misses the moment when Arthur hits on one of the man and miraculously he's beside her, covering her. He shoves her hard on the ground.

"Don't move.", he hisses.

Ariadne isn't sure what happening after that. There is gunfire, that' certain. And muffled groan of pain, but that everything she can pictures. Suddenly she finds out that Arthur is standing beside her again and he gives her car keys.

"You drive. Quick.", he commands and everything Ariadne can do is obeying him.

The mist in her head falters finally, while they're driving. She looks at Arthur, who sits silently beside her, his face almost expressionless. Only the tight line of his lips tells Ariadne something's wrong. Then she notices.

Blood.

Arthur's bleeding.

She almost brakes at the middle of the road at this sight. She feels her hand start shaking and she clenches them tightly on steering wheel.

"Arthur, you're…", she starts, but Arthur stops her with cold "Drive" and she obeys. Obviously Arthur knows where they're going as he gives her directions.

When they finally reaches their destinations it turns to be an old and abandoned factory. Not far away from it Ariadne can see a couple of houses and something that looks like bus stop.

"Get out.", Arthur tells her, his voice still cold. He winces in pain when he steps out from car, but his pace is steady and even.

As soon as they enter the empty halls of factory, Arthur turns to Ariadne. Now she can see how utterly angry he is; his eyes are flashing flashlights at her.

"What were you thinking?", he hisses at her.

"I…", Ariadne stammers. Honestly, she can't say what she was thinking at that very moment. It was a pure instinct that made her went into that cab.

"I tried to help.", she says at last, fully aware how stupid it sounds. To her utter surprise it makes Arthur's anger slightly falter.

"Help.", he repeats with the hint of surprise and laughs bitterly. It makes him shrink in pain and Ariadne hurries to him.

"Don't.", Arthur stops her. "Don't even try to touch me.", something in his tone makes Ariadne obedient once again.

"There's bus stop near from here. You'll go there and drive to the nearest city with airport. Then you'll take the first flight to Paris. Your luggage is in car. Take it and leave.", Arthur says flatly, avoiding her eyes.

"What?", Ariadne manages to say. "You're hurt and I…"

"And you've already screw up everything, so don't bother yourself and leave. Now Ariadne."

Ariadne can say he's not angry anymore. His tone is emotionless and flat; he doesn't need her, in fact he doesn't _want _her to be with him. Now Ariadne's the one who feels angry. She tried to help him, after all and still trying and he treats her as an obstacle, he needs to remove from his way.

"Fine.", she says flatly and leaves.

As soon as Ariadne left Arthurs sits at floor. He presses hand to his chest and then looks at it; his fingers are covered in blood.

"Damn you.", he whispers. "Damn you, Ariadne."

He struggles to his feet and forces himself to go to car. He knows the bullet didn't hit anything vital; otherwise he wouldn't be able to walk, but pain and blood loss are slowly fighting him down. Hopefully there's first aid kit in the car's boot. Before he starts fixing himself he glances shortly toward bus stop. The fragile form of Ariadne is clearly visible and even from this distance Arthur can say how angry she is.

"That would be better. For both of us.", he says quietly as if fragile architect could hear him and heads back to factory.

When he finally drives away, his wound cleared and bandaged, there're no longer any signs of Ariadne.

* * *

Ariadne feels like she could kill somebody, she's only not exactly sure whatever she should choose Arthur or herself. Her heavy bag digs unpleasantly into her arm and bus stop still looks so distant that it almost makes her cry.

Or maybe it's the overwhelming feeling of slough?

She's very aware of fact that everything went in the worse possible way. She tried to help and now she's lonely walking to bus stop in the middle of nowhere, leaving wounded Arthur behind her.

She bits her lips, lost in thinking. The truth is nothing makes sense at all. Apparently Arthur's able to fight off those men. So why he decided to go with them? Or maybe he did what he planned originally?

And then another thought hits Ariadne. What if he fought with them because of her?

Ariadne froze and looks back at factory, the picture of Arthur clear in her mind.

No, she decides quickly. He was determined to remove her from his life, she's sure about it.

She almost fell asleep in bus, the exhaustion of inception and the rest of the day catching her. Yet, she pushes it aside. She's not sure how her dreams will look like and she doesn't want to check it in front of eyes of other passengers.

When she finally reaches city, she's way too much tired to even think about flying back to Paris.

"Sorry, Arthur.", she mumbles quietly stepping into first hotel on her way.

Going sleep she is afraid of dreams, she can have, scared that they could be nightmares.

But she doesn't have nightmares.

In fact she doesn't have any dreams at all; apparently she already joined fully the society of dream-sharing business and lost her ability to dream.

Ariadne groans, still feeling exhausted. She takes her phone from nightstand, because maybe, _maybe_, Arthur changed his mind and send her some kind of message. Or maybe _anyone_ is still interested in her and wants to know if she's fine.

Zero calls. Zero text messages.

Apparently nobody does care about her.

"Fine.", she says. "So fuck you all."

She stands up and pretend that this strange feeling inside her isn't sadness.

* * *

Arthur wakes up and immediately regrets that. The whole body is hurting and room starts to wave in front of his eyes as soon as he opens them.

He wishes he could close them and curl under comforter, but he can't; there're too many things he has to do.

Besides Arthur never lets his body win with his mind.

And his mind is telling him that right now he needs to stand up, check the wound and probably call somebody.

Arthurs obeys all this commands; he stands up slowly, biting his lip. He draggles himself into the bathroom and curses silently after looking at his appearance in the wall mirror.

He looks like a mess. And it's not what he can afford himself to. He examines his wound and finds out there's fresh blood on the bandage. He curses again, this time louder. He had to harm it, while he shifted his position during sleep.

Apparently the probability of need to call somebody becomes necessity.

He sits carefully on bed and dials number.

"Yes?", voice of young woman answers.

"Kathy, it's me.", Arthur tell her quietly.

There's a long pause on the other side of line.

"Oh.", woman finally says. "You're in the city?"

"Yes. And…", Arthur hesitates, he's never been good at asking for help.

"You're in troubles.", the woman guesses. "Where are you?"

"Well, in some hotel…", Arthur quickly searches his mind for the name of it. He recalls it with relief. "It's called "Black Cube. Room 234.", he adds.

"Fine. I'll as soon as possible.", the woman answers. "And… Arthur?"

"Yeah?"

"It's good to hear you again."

* * *

The flight to Paris is vague, Ariadne feels like nothing around her is real. Is that really no more than 48 hours since she left this city? She can't believe at all.

Everything seems different; people, streets, buildings, even her own small bachelor flat. She drops her bag absently and sits on the bed. She can feel comforting weight of her totem in jeans pocket; she tipped it a countless times and result was always the same.

_I'm not dreaming._

Surprisingly this certainty isn't as soothing as it should be. Ariadne knows that she would be much more happier if she could wake up and go to the certain warehouse. Hear cheerful "Hello, love!" from Eames, get waves of hand from Yusuf, little sad, but still warmth smile from Cobb and official, but pleasant "Good morning" from Arthur.

But it's all over and Ariadne's never been the one to regret and cry for too long.

When she couldn't get what she wanted, she was always able to find something else, better. And here, in Paris, she has everything she could want.

She stands up and takes away sheets of paper lying on the floor. There're sketches for inception job, so she tears them apart providently.

When she puts them to rubbish damp she feels almost nothing. Like she didn't spend so much time sketching on this papers, thinking how to make them perfect, like she didn't see all of this in reality, even though it was only the reality of Dreams.

Ariadne doesn't want souvenirs of any kind. It's enough that she's unable to get rid of her totem. All she wants is to go back to her old life, when she was happy with things she had and her dreams didn't contain creating impossibilities and extremely handsome and, in the same time, cold man in tailored suit.

The bishop will always be somewhere and no matter how deep she'd hide it, it'll be the constant recollection of what happened, what Ariadne did and with whom.

Ariadne looks around her tiny flat; is there any remainder of dream-sharing left?

_Oh, yes._

There's one more thing left. It's nothing big, in fact is the tiniest sheet of paper.

A simple note, nothing more.

_Ariadne,_

_I went to buy some coffee, Eames managed to drink all of last bag within a couple of days. _

_You know I can't work without it._

_I'll be back soon._

_Arthur_

She put it in her wallet, not sure why she did; she'd never been a sentimental one, but she couldn't bring herself to throw it away.

But now she doesn't find it so difficult; he kicked her from his life with a couple of harsh words and anger shining in his eyes. Ariadne won't let herself be disturbed by that.

At least she hopes so.

When she goes out sunlight grosses her eyes, but this time she's prepared. She wears sunglasses and goes her usual way to University.

There's so many things she need to do; find out whatever she's still on the list of students or they've already crossed her name from it, speak with most of her friends and explain her strange behavior from last time.

And have some talk with Professor Miles.

* * *

"Arthur? You actually wanted to take care of this wound only by yourself?", in the voice of young, dark haired woman Arthur clearly hears disbelief and anger.

"The bullet didn't hurt any vital.", he mumbles under breath. He feels somehow stupid right now, since the first thing he did after Kathy came was losing his consciousness.

"Oh, sure! Nothing vital is hurt, so the blood loss, or simple fact of having a _hole_ in your side doesn't count at all?", Kathy smash him lightly on arm. "Really, I thought of you better than that."

He catches swiftly catches her hand and kisses it softly.

"I own you.", he says seriously.

"I'm not doing that because I want to have a debtor in you, you know that perfectly well.", Kathy answers and takes her hand away, but there's smile on her face. "You need to lay for at least a couple of days."

Arthur frowns and closes his eyes.

"Arthur, look at me. I'm serious, you need to take care of yourself. And I'm not talking only about it.", she gestured toward his bandaged side. "I'm talking about all this scars…"

"Kathy. Please.", Arthur stops her. "We've talked about it before. I know you don't _like_ what I'm doing, but that's already decided."

Kathy rolls her eyes. "Not liking isn't the words I'd use, but fine. I know you too long, to fight with you when you have this kind of look in your eyes."

She reaches and absently strokes his dark hairs.

"How much time is left, before you'll tell me I need to go away, because it's too dangerous for me to be here?", she asks, trying to sound light.

Arthur closes his eyes once again "We still have some time left.", he answers quietly.

"And you want tell me what happened and what supposedly will happen?"

Arthur laughs gently. "You know, I won't."

Kathy laughs too and shrugs. "It's always good to have a try.", she pauses for a second and then asks: "And your last _job_? As always?"

Arthurs still silent for a moment. When he answers his voice is somehow unsure. "Not exactly. My friend… Well, I think I can say his greatest dream came true.", he smiles, a genuine broad smile, on which Kathy cannot answer differently than smiling herself. Then she turns her head, as to not look directly at Arthur.

"And when your greatest dream come true?", she asks seriously.

Arthur doesn't answer and they stay in comfortable silence for a long time.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank for those who alerted and added this fic to their favorites. It means a lot for me, but I have a request: leave a review, please. Reviews make day, force the sun to light and generally fix the world;) **

Ariadne decides that fools have a luck in lives after all. She's still a student which amazes her only until the moment she learns that it's because of Professor Miles. He convicted everybody that she got an amazing job offer, no student could refuse. A possibility to create astonishing things, while she still hasn't had degreed.

Ariadne isn't sure how he manages that (surely somebody wanted some kind of document proofing that), but she's utterly grateful for that.

She also has to admit that Professor Miles didn't lie.

She got a chance to create amazing things.

That thought comes with a hint of sadness, so she quickly decides that she want to buy some kind of present for her professor, to show all her gratitude. However, fate has apparently another plans for her today.

"Ariadne?", she hears suddenly and turns toward person, who called her.

"Ariadne, that's really you!", Camille and Oliver smile broadly. She kisses her cheek and he hugs her gently.

"When did you come back?", he asks.

"Yesterday.", Ariadne admits sheepishly.

"And you didn't even send a text!", Camille says disapprovingly, but there's smile in her eyes. She's truly happy that Ariadne came back and so does Oliver. This knowledge melts a part of ice inside Ariadne. She answers with smile.

"I was tired and today I needed to check if I'm still a student…", she explains. Her words make Camille eyed her carefully.

"You really thought that Miles would let anybody throw you from this college?", her voice is filled with disbelief. Oliver chuckles shortly at Ariadne's lost look.

"Come on, we need to celebrate your return.", he says and takes her for arm.

At this moment Ariadne almost believe that no men in suits with guns in holsters are really important to her in any way.

They sit in small café, they've been in many times since their first year of studying. Ariadne takes her usual place; that's the place where she had spend countless number of hours chatting with friends, sketching, or just simply sitting and thinking. It so familiar to her, yet today it feels different.

"The same drink as always?", the voice of waitress tears her out from her reverie.

"Oh.", she hesitates for a moment. "No, I'll take espresso this time.", she decides finally, surprising not only her friends, but also herself.

Camille glares at her suspiciously. "You've never drink coffee before.", there is an accusation in her voice. "Is that what this mysterious job did to you?"

Ariadne can't help but smile. "Yeah, I guess."

There is clear picture on her head.

"_Arthur, want some coffee?", Eames said his words more__ as a statement, than question, making his third coffee this morning._

"_Mmm.", Arthur mumbled not taking his eyes from his notes._

"_And Ariadne?", Eames glared at her. _

"_You know I don't like coffee.", she grimaced._

"_Love, if you want to survive in this business you need to learn to drink coffee.", Eames said with smirk. "Am I right, Arthur?"_

_Arthur chuckled and finally looked up from his notes. "No matter how I hate to do so, I have to agree with Eames."_

"_I can't believe my own ears.", Ariadne laughed. And quickly learned they were right._

_Arthur made astonishingly tasty espresso…_

"Ariadne?", Oliver waves his hand in front of her face. "Wake up. You need to tell as something about this job."

"Oh, I…", Ariadne desperately searches her mind for some believable lie and finds it completely empty. "Umm, and what exactly told you Miles?"

"That it was an amazing chance to work with professionals from different departments and suggested not to disturb you. It's all.", Oliver answers, looking at her intently.

"And you didn't ask him any further?", Ariadne asks, with a hint of hope in her voice.

"Ari!,", Camille chuckles. "He's our lecturer, we couldn't interrogate him! Besides you can tell as, can't you?"

"Um, the problem is that not exactly.", she watches Camille eyes darkening. "I mean I wish, I could, but it's something well. It was a kind of secret thing and…"

"Some spy job?", Oliver asks with laugh. "Girl, you don't look like Mata Hari."

Ariadne giggles nervously. She's happy that Oliver is unaware how close to the truth he is. "You've never know.", she answers, trying to sound light.

"Yeah, you've never know.", Camille nods and Ariadne is sure that further questions are only delayed.

* * *

Arthur wakes up suddenly, as if from nightmare. The only problem is that he hasn't been dreaming for five years now. He stands up quietly, ready to use his gun, but there's nobody in the room beside him. The only change of its appearance is a sheet of paper lying on nightstand. Arthur takes it, knowing already what it says.

_Arthur,_

_I had to go to work__ and I didn't want to wake you up._

_You need to sleep more, really. I know that by the time I'll finish my work_

_you'll have been at least at the other side of the city, so good luck._

_Love,_

_Kathy_

Arthur smiles to himself. Today he feels much better, thanks to Kathy and he's happy she isn't angry at him. He know that she's right, he needs to run from this place. Killing two people can only make his enemies more dangerous and Arthur is sure that they've already found out that he broke the deal.

Because of Ariadne.

He pushes away that thought; he doesn't have time to think about her, all he needs to do now is leaving city, before it'll be too late. He glances through the window and see two men standing close to the hotel's entrance. They look casually, but Arthur's trained eyes catch tiny signs telling him that this men are looking for somebody.

For him to be exact.

Arthur curses silently. There is back door in this hotel, but it's probably observed too. He thinks for a while which way choose and then decisively grabs PASIV. Rest of things will have to be replaced, like many times before. He puts the silencer on his gun and he's ready.

His way through corridors of hotel goes smooth. It's something Arthur learned in the beginnings of his work in Dream business: if you look like you're allowed to be somewhere, nobody would think that actually you not.

Luckily there're windows that shows Arthur that it's not his lucky day; close to back doors stand one of men, the second one is a couple of meters further.

The chance that he'd kill both of them before they manage to hurt him in any way is tiny. Besides, he really would like to ask some question. He suspects whose men they are, but in this line of work you've never know.

He opens the door carefully.

"Don't move. Both of you.", he hisses, pointing his gun at head of the closest man. He hopes that the loyalty between them is stronger than the loyalty to their employment.

"Now put your guns on the ground. No rapid movements, understand?", he commands. Both men obediently drop their guns on the ground, but something on the face of the furthest one alarms Arthur. Only because of that and his great reflex he's able to avoid the bullet.

"Fuck!", he screams, feeling sharp pain in his wound. He's sure he starts bleeding again, but there's no time for thinking now. Right now the only things that can save him are instinct and reflex.

Hopefully both of them won't let him down.

He kicks blindly and with a hint of satisfactions feels that he actually managed to hit one of them. He shoots without aiming and hears scream, but there's no time to waste.

He runs toward closest car and breaks it window. For a moment he's utterly thankful Eames, that he convinced him that the ability of starting car's engine without key is helpful in their line of work.

Engine starts smoothly and Arthur drives off to the main street. He glances at back mirror. Nothing behind him changes. He's safe.

For now.

He checks himself. The wound is bleeding, but blood still hasn't soaked through his shirt, so nobody will see it. The suit is slightly crumpled and hairs lightly disheveled, but he won't get too much attention.

That's enough for him.

The airport is crowded as always places like that are. Arthur heads to cash desk and prays in his soul for free tickets.

"Hello, how can I help you?", blonde girl smiles to him genuinely.

"I'm interested in the closest flight to Berlin.", Arthur answers politely. "Is there any place left?"

"Just a moment.", she checks it quickly. "Yes, in business class."

"Great.", Arthur answers. He pays quickly and turns away, when girl stops him hesitantly.

"I'm sorry, but are you ok?", she asks.

"Yes.", Arthur answers firmly, through the haze in his mind. "Why?"

Girl shakes her head. "I just… There's blood on your hand."

Arthur freezes for a moment and the smiles. "It's nothing, really. Nevertheless, thanks for your care."

He turns finally and goes to toilets.

If he wants to live through the flight without losing consciousness, he has to fix himself.

When he changes his cleans his wound and changes his bandaged he decides that working alone is the worst thing in the whole world.

Now he wishes that there would be someone with him, anybody, including Eames.

Someone, who could provide him some time for a rest.

He stifles the sudden urge to call somebody.

_It's pathetic_, he thinks. _You were in worst situations than that, with worst wounds and you giving up? No way._

He tries not to hear the small voice in his head telling him that before there was always Cobb beside him.

When he finally takes his seat in plane, he immediately closes eyes hoping that he'd fall asleep. It turns to be much harder than he expected. Now, when he doesn't have to act he's not longer able to stop his mind from thinking.

Thinking about Ariadne.

Arthur knows he should be at least angry at her. Her inexplicable behavior ruined all his well-planned actions and forced him to fight with Cobol Engineering. He made a deal with its agents to prevent that!

And yet, he's not angry, just curious. What could possibly poses this smart woman? Arthur is very well aware of Ariadne's courage, but it wasn't courage; it was stupidity.

There was something in this huge, brown eyes of Ariadne. Something Arthur can't define. He's only sure it disappeared when he told her to leave him alone.

Arthur stifles the urge to groan loudly; thinking about Ariadne brings a huge headache.

Arthur has never put anything to do later, but for Ariadne he decides to make an exception.

You need to be much stronger to face Ariadne, even in your own mind.

* * *

"And how's Miles?", Ariadne asks, sipping her espresso. It's not even in half that tasty as the one made by Arthur, she notices involuntary.

"No idea.", Oliver shrugs. "He left month ago, rumor says that he went back to USA, but you know, nobody knows for sure. Are you ok? You look pale?"

"I… Yes, I'm fine.", Ariadne answers absently. "It means he's not here?", she ensures desperately.

Oliver sighs in irritation. "Didn't you listen? That's exactly what I said."

"Oh, I need to go, there're things I have to do.", Ariadne stands up rapidly. "So see you later, ok?", she adds already coming away from table.

Ariadne was so sure that here, in Paris, she'll get her chance to talk with Miles about everything, that news about his departure almost make her cry.

It means that she's all alone.

There's nobody she could speak with about Dreams.

Nobody who wants to speak with her about Dreams.

_Fine. _

Ariadne looks around. She's twenty three, she's still a student, there's Paris streets around her and money waiting in bank account.

What more she could possibly want?

When steppes in the nearest Travel Agency she's almost convinced that nothing.

It's getting dark when Ariadne finally comes back home. She spent a couple of hours just walking on streets of Paris, enjoying the beauty of its architecture.

She's near her flat when she notices somebody sitting on the wall beside the tenement house door. It's a man, Ariadne notices, holding her breaths.

When headlamps of passing be car lightens him, Ariadne finally starts breathing again.

It's just Oliver.

"Hey.", she says softly, smiling. "What are you doing here?"

"I was waiting for you.", Oliver answers and stands up. "Ariadne… I missed you.", he reaches his hand and Ariadne lets him put her into tight embrace.

The feeling of his arm around is nice and familiar. It brings a sensation of safety and Ariadne allowed herself sunk into it. She burrows her face in his baggy t-shirt, trying not to be disappointed that it's not a tailored jacket.

"Will you come inside?", she asks eventually and immediately feel the happiness in Oliver. She catches his hand and steppes inside building, Oliver follows her.

He seems to slightly overwhelmed by her enthusiasm, so it's Ariadne who starts kissing him.

Firstly gently kiss quickly turns to more compassionate one; Oliver gently fingers her neck and Ariadne shivers at this touch, finally letting her body wins over mind.

And only very, very deep inside her soul something repeats that he's not the one, she was waiting for…

In the morning Ariadne wakes up, feeling strange in her own bed. She lays still for a couple of seconds trying to decide what had changed and she finally realizes; that's another body lying in her in this bed.

_Oliver._

Panic washes over her and for a moment she's not sure whatever she want to kiss him or kick him off the bed. Eventually she simply stands up, grabs clothes and heads toward bathroom.

She stares into the mirror for a moment. There's a lovebite on her neck and Ariadne rubs it absently. She feels somehow out of place; there's intelligent and handsome man laying in her bed, with who spend one of the most interesting and intensive nights of her life and yet…

It's not exactly like it should be. Somewhere inside her is regret, which Ariadne hates; it means that she still has some stupid dreams, about life that's not destined for her.

She shakes her head; the woman in mirror does the same.

"It's me." , Ariadne speaks quietly. "And that's my life, there won't be another one."

Ariadne has never thought about Oliver as a romantic man, so single red rose standing on kitchen table surprise her utterly. She touches its petals gently.

"Where…", she starts her question.

"On the other side of street.", Oliver answers hastily. "You like it?"

"It's beautiful.", Ariadne answers honestly. "I didn't know that you have romantic soul.", she smiles.

"I didn't know it, too.", Oliver shrugs and answers with smile. "I saw those leaflets and brochures… Are you going to Rome?"

"I'm planning it, yes.", Ariadne answers absently and then an idea comes to her head. "Maybe… Maybe you'll go with me?"

Oliver grins. "Sure, I'll go."

The heat is overwhelming. Ariadne closes her eyes with loud groan. The pain in her head is almost homicidal and the way Oliver drives car doesn't help; Ariadne's sure that they'll crash soon. If she felt a little better, she would never let him drive.

"Oliver, please, just don't knock down anybo…", the rest of sentence is interrupted by loud crack. Ariadne opens her eyes rapidly and with hint of resignation she realizes that Oliver somehow managed to rearend.

"Shit.", she says and closes her eyes again. She hears Oliver getting out the car and sighs.

They came to Rome week ago and everything is completely messed up. Ariadne too late realized that Oliver as a friend and as a lover means complete another thing.

Of course they have many things in common: architecture, the way they're looking at world, similar interests and taste, but…

Ariadne's mind somehow manages to turn every Oliver's upside into failure. And failure into something even worse.

"You, Frenchman, who gave you driving license?", Ariadne hears and voice is strangely familiar to her. She gets out of car and freezes.

A couple meters away from her, yelling at her boyfriend, stands Eames.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thanks for everybody who allerted/added my story to favorites. And special thank you for those, who reviewed. Keep reviewing and I promise, I'll do my best not to dissapoint you! **

**To those, who wanted to know if it's Ariadne/Arthur pairing story: please, keep reading and you find out, wherever it is or not;)**

Arthur is very well aware that if Kathy could see him right now, she would kill him immediately. And bring back to life the next second.

He almost hears her disapproving voice in his head.

_You are supposed to rest, not to find next job!_

Yet, Arthur is Arthur; he couldn't resist the offer he got and now he's heading to small Italian restaurant for a work meeting. When he enter local he immediately catches the picture of woman waiting for him. He approaches the table.

"Hello.", he says. She raises her head and scrutinizes him for a moment.

"Hello.", she answers finally with smile that doesn't reach her eyes.

"I would introduce myself, but judging by your offer you're very aware of who I am.", Arthur says looking at her intently.

Woman tilts her head slightly. "Very true. And I'm Patrycja Kowalik.", she introduces herself and gestures Arthur to take a seat.

Arthur obeys. "You're Polish?"

Patrycja smiles again, this time genuinely. "Yes, I am.", she admits. "I suggest you taking espresso, it's amazing.", she adds when waitress appears at their table.

"Anyway, that's our possible mark.", Patrycja continues, when waitress left. She puts a manila folder on table and shifts it toward Arthur. He opens it and discovers two sheets of paper and a photo, showing man in his fifties. His face is unknown for Arthur.

"Task is pretty simple.", Patrycja says when she catches Arthur's glimpse. "Great example of typical companies espionage. He wants us to take a look in his rival plans for future. If he's planning to start selling any new type of products et cetera. Nothing complicated."

"So why you went with this offer to me?", Arthur asks calmly. He knows he's well known in Dreams business, but still he wants to know woman motivation. At least the official one…

"Pure curiosity.", Patrycja answers with smirk. "My ex-Point Man was flying with you in the same plane, you knew him."

Arthur searches his mind for any familiar face from plane, but he finishes with nothing. It infuriates him; he's supposed to notice things like that! Even though he nods his head slightly.

"Ex- Point Man.", he repeats slowly. "How long he's ex?"

"For two days.", Patrycja answers. "He was killed.", she adds indifferently.

Arthur raises his eyebrow, but says nothing.

Patrycja checks her watch and frowns. "I'm afraid I need to go.", she stands up and put a visiting card at manila folder. "Call me when you decide."

Arthur observes her when she comes across room.

She's _nothing_ but professional. Wears a suit, with knee-long skirt and shirt jacket. Her shoes are high-heeled, but it doesn't bother her at all; her movements are smooth and graceful.

In fact she's everything Arthur could dream; as a coworker and as a woman.

But he can easily feel the longing in his chest.

For woman, who's _everything_ but professional.

He forces he feeling down and takes notes about their mark.

He already knows that he'll take this job.

He neatly puts papers and photo back to manila folder and glances at visiting card. It's simple ant tasteful, very much alike the one Arthur would have done for himself, if he ever had thought about such thing. He pockets it with sigh.

He needs to buy a laptop.

Back in hotel with new shining laptop on his lap, he flips through web sites. There's not much in the Internet about the mark.

He's an owner of well-known company producing electronic equipment. He's never been arrested or accused of anything illegal. He's divorced for five years and have adult daughters.

It seems that Patrycja was right: it's typical companies espionage.

He decisively takes his phone and dials number.

"I'm in.", is all he says.

* * *

Firstly Ariadne wants to get back into the car and hid herself from Eames's eyes, but looking at Oliver's bewildered face she feels a hint of pity. She's very aware how bothersome Eames can be, even when he's in good mood.

"Eames.", she says coldly, interrupting him in the middle of some inventive invective.

Eames looks at her, his mouth still open; Ariadne notices with satisfaction that's the first time she sees him out of words. Even Arthur didn't manage to confuse Eames.

"Ariadne?", he manages weakly.

Oliver frowns looking from Ariadne to Eames. "You know each other?", he asks wonderingly.

It seems nobody heard him; Ariadne and Eames are staring at each other.

"So you're in Rome.", Eames finally says. "With…", he glances toward Oliver.

"My boyfriend.", Ariadne pronounces firmly, utterly oblivious at her previous thoughts.

Eames rises his eyebrow. "With your boyfriend who managed to crash into my bumper.", he states. "You own me a dinner for that."

It takes aback Ariadne. Before she manages to say anything Eames grabs her arm. It wakes up Oliver.

"Leave her alone.", he says warningly. Something bad flashes in Eames's eyes and Ariadne immediately decides it's better to go with Eames than bandage Oliver's wounds.

"It's fine.", she says hurriedly. "I'll see you later."

She gets into Eames's Maserati, unwillingly noticing blessed coolness inside it.

"Where you found that asshole?", Eames asks disapprovingly.

"Stop it Eames.", Ariadne answers immediately. "The fact I'm driving with you right now doesn't mean you can insult my boyfriend."

Eames shrugs defensively, but obeys. "Anyway how are you?", he asks instead.

Ariadne looks at him in disbelief. "Don't say that you almost kidnapped me just to ask if I'm fine."

Eames smiles, this cheerful and charming smile of his. "Of course, darling. That's the only reason."

"So why didn't you call me?", Ariadne snaps bitterly. "Since you're so interested!"

"Oh.", it's all Eames says before he stops the car beside small but fancy looking restaurant. "We'll speak inside, shall we?", he asks politely.

Ariadne glares at him with murder in her eyes, but nods her head.

"So?", she says as soon, as they sit.

"Well…", Eames hesitates for a moment. "We decided it would be better for you.", he finishes finally.

"What?", Ariadne almost shouts. "You decided… No. Is that a kind of joke?"

"Easy, Ariadne. You're looking at this from one side, but turn over the coin. The side you see is all creating, impossibilities, paradoxes… The other side is not so nice. It's criminal underground, Ariadne. In this business you can lose your life within seconds. We decided to protect you."

"You decided to take away me right to choose by myself.", Ariadne states firmly.

Eames grimaces. "Would you willingly join mafia?", he asks with sigh.

"It's different!", Ariadne protests. "Besides, if you want to me to stay away from Dreams why you bring me here?"

"Honestly?", Eames leans closer to her. "I wanted to save you from company of this asshole."

Ariadne tries to be angry, but her attempts ends with nothing. "Eames, don't be like that.", is all she finally says, feeling guilty.

Surprisingly Eames obeys. "And I'm here on my holidays, so no harm done. It's utterly private meeting of old friends.", he adds.

Ariadne stays silent for a long time which makes Eames uneasy. "Ariadne?" You're angry?"

"I…", Ariadne can't find proper words for a moment. "I'm not angry.", she finally says. "I was, but now… I don't know, it was supposed to be different. In one moment all my dreams came true and in the another you took it away from me. And you didn't even bother to ask what my choice is."

Eames stares at her unusually serious. "We screwed up everything, didn't we?", he eventually says with sadness in his voice.

"I'm afraid you did.", Ariadne feels suddenly very weary again. Her headache disappeared when she saw Eames, but now it comes back, even stronger. "It would be better if didn't meet.", she adds and stands up.

Eames does the same, not taking his eyes from her face. "Wait, please.", he says and something in his voice makes Ariadne listen him.

"Yes?"

"You're talking about this meeting, or the whole inception?", Eames inquires carefully.

"I don't know. I don't know Eames.", Ariadne answers and leaves.

Outside welcomes her with infernal heat and sharp sunlight. She narrows her eyes and with sigs heads to her hotel.

She knows that Oliver is waiting for her with questions, but suddenly he seems to be much easiest to experience than before.

* * *

Arthur bites his lip and curses silently. As soon as he got to the place of meeting, he realized that he hadn't asked who would be the Architect. It's very unlike him, he has never done such mistakes before. It makes him mad at himself, especially now when knows.

In front of his sits Aksel, tall Norwegian with whom Arthur had unpleasantness worked once before. Job ended in most catastrophic possible way and Arthur finished in hospital with bullet in his right lung.

"Arthur!", Aksel smiles scornfully. "How nice to see you again! I've heard you live through, but that's a pleasure to see you with my own eyes."

Arthur raises his eyebrow. "I need someone better than you to be killed.", he says calmly and takes seat. "Anyway, how is that possible that they still hire you?"

Aksel laughs. "Oh, I finished in States. You did an astonishing work ruining my reputation."

Arthur nods in acknowledgment. He knows he did.

"But here… In Europe", Aksel continues, "I'm still respected."

It's everything he can say; in that moment Patrycja comes in, a silver suitcase in her hand. She puts it aside and joins Arthur and Aksel.

"Shall you?", she asks gesturing toward Arthur, who nods and takes out the manila folder, noticeable thicker this time.

"Johan Detter.', he reads. "Born in Malmo, now he's living here, in Berlin, alone. Sometimes he meets with his mistress, but next week she's leaving to sanatorium and won't be back until December. He doesn't have planned any operations, nothing that require giving him sedative."

Patrycja looks at him. "And where is our chance to get him?", she asks calmly. "You figured it out, I can see that."

It makes Arthur feels uneasy. He's not easy person to read through, but it seems that Patrycja doesn't have any problems with that.

"He rides horse; for three hours, every day, no matter the weather or he's health. That's our chance."

Aksel snorts. "So am I supposed to create a _stable?", _there disbelief in his voice. Patrycja glare at him with dislike.

"You're supposed to create anything our job demanded.", she tells him firmly. "That's what you're paid for."

"Arthur.", Patrycja turns in his direction. "You'll be the dreamer."

Arthur simply nods his head. It's obvious: Patrycja is Extractor, so she shouldn't have been playing the double role and Aksel will stay outside as lookout.

"I brought PASIV.", Patrycja continues. "I need to have a small look into your subconscious."

Arthur stifles sigh. He knows Patrycja is right; it's safer to dream with person, whose subconscious you know, at least in the tiniest part. But that's something Arthur hates: opening his mind, even in so limited way to anybody makes him feel anxious. One of the many reasons of working with Cobb was that he trusted him enough to open like that.

_But now Cob is gone._

"Sure.", he answers. "Now?"

"We don't have time to waste.", Patrycja says with smile and gestures toward PASIV. "Could you?"

Arthur takes it and customarily checks it; everything seems to be fine, so he gives needle to Patrycja. Aksel comes closer, but sharp glance from Arthur stops him.

"Is it safe to Dream here?", Arthur makes sure. Patrycja simply nods her head in answer and pricks the needle into her wrist. Arthur follows her immediately.

0000

_They're standing in feet of glass skyscraper. It's amazingly tall and shin__es in the last rays of sunshine, forcing Arthur to blink. Patrycja smiles and this time smile reaches her eyes. _

"_Do you like it?", she asks._

"_Yes.", Arthur answers simply and he means it. City around him is breath-taking, especially when you realize that it's created by Extractor, not Architect._

_Arthur finally takes his eyes from magnificent building in front of him and looks around. Projections of his subconscious pass by them, hurrying somewhere. Patrycja follows his gaze._

"_You're trained, aren't you?", she asks, curiosity clear in her voice. "I've never been before in trained mind.", she continues with hint of excitement and Arthur suddenly realizes that behind of her professionalism Patrycja loves Dreaming._

_Just like him._

"_What could I do, before your projections would turn me apart?"_

_Arthur can't help smile. "You've already done everything needed.", he answers. Patrycja turns in his direction, suspiciousness in her eyes._

"_What you mean be that?"_

"_You entered my mind.", Arthur explains shortly. "We have about…", he checks his watch, "about 2 minutes before my projections decide that you shouldn't be here. Don't worry, Dream will end before that.", he adds reassuringly. _

_Patrycja looks at him with disbelief. _

"_Is that even possible?", she says skeptically. _

_Arthur simply shrugs. "Yes.", he confirms shortly. "But believe me, you don't want to check it on your own skin."_

_Patrycja glares at him scornfully, but before she manages to do anything Dreams starts collapsing._

_The very last thing Arthur sees is beautiful skyscraper crumpling down. _

_0000_

Patrycja is already awake when Arthur opens his eyes. Aksel is looking at him with unreadable expression on his face.

"That was a fast visit.", he notices wryly. However, Patrycja doesn't pay attention to him, her eyes are lodged at Arthur.

"The fact I've never been in trained mind before doesn't mean that I don't know how it should look like.", she states firmly. "And it's not supposed to be like in your mind."

Aksel arches one eyebrow, trying to cover his curiosity with a smirk.

Arthur stays calm and composure. "You needed to get first impression of my subconscious. I understand that and I need the same thing from you, of course if we're still working together. The rest doesn't have any importance."

Patrycja stares at him for a while, before she again wears his emotionless expression. Still, in her voice Arthur can hear a tiny hint of anger.

"Fine. Shall we?", she gestures towards PASIV again. Without another word Arthur puts the needle into his wrist.

0000

_Arthur decides not to show Patrycja his usual design. The lobby with huge Penrose's Stairs in the middle belongs entirely to some other woman…_

_Arthur pushes this thought away and glances toward Patrycja, who stands motionless, her eyes huge and surprised._

"_A jungle?", she asks finally. "That's interesting choice.", she observes, regaining her composure. _

_Arthur smirks and leans closer her. "That's the easiest test to check the flexibility of mind. Design something unexpected and observe projections."_

_Patrycja looks around. Smells are blending together and she breaths deeply, tasting them. For a moment she wants to asks Arthur if he's ever been in jungle, but stops herself. That's not the reason they're here. She turns to Arthur only to discover he's a couple of meters away, talking with her projection._

_It's a man in his fifties with long beard; he looks like traveler. He doesn't seem to getting suspicious about Arthur and Patrycja has to admit it impresses her._

_After all he's a Point Man, not Extractor, right? _

_She slowly goes towards him, observing him intently. _

_She likes him, she decides. He's smart and astonishingly good-looking._

_What a shame he'll end in so unpleasant way, she thinks and aims gun at his head._

_She doesn't even flinch, when she feels streams of his blood on her._

_0000_

Arthur wakes up with jerk and immediately realizes that something's wrong.

Really wrong.

He feels the cold of gun barrel on his temple and breaths of air on his cheek, they're coming from Aksel, who's sitting beside him, curiosity clear in his eyes.

"Would you mind stepping aside?", Arthur asks calmly. Curiosity in Aksel's eyes turns into hatred.

"Silence.", he hissed. "I'll kill you."

Arthur slightly narrows his eyes. "You've tried it before.", he reminds. "Not exactly successfully."

Aksel frowns but his next movements are stopped by Patrycja.

"We're supposed to deliver him in one piece.", she says warningly, eyeing at Arthur. He answers with scornfully look.

"I don't want any problems.", she says with a hint of apologize in her voice.

Arthur arches his eyebrow in disbelief. "So we have something in common, after all. Cobol Engineering?"

Patrycja shrugs. "As far as I know, yes. But you know how it's going: nothing private just pure business."

Aksel gestures Arthur to raise; he does it obediently.

"Too bad.", she hears whisper quieter than breath.

To her last days she will wonder if that was real, or imaginary. But the next thing will be in her mind until death.

Arthur grabs her and puts his own gun to her head. She gasps and freezes.

"Put the gun on the floor and kick it toward me.", Arthur commands Aksel. "Then stood by the wall, hand over head."

Aksel does as command and Arthur reaches for gun with nasty smile on his lips.

"It was a pleasure to work with you.", he says.

The next sound is the crack of slummed door.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I have no idea if the wherever you like this story or not- no new reviews, that doesn't make author's life easier;) But nevertheless, here's next chapter. And I can already say that in the next one you'll find out what is between Arthur and Ariadne.**

**Please, review if you read, don't hesitate if you don't like it!**

When Ariadne reaches finally hotel, she feels like somebody wringed her.

And there's Oliver, standing outside the hotel, the mix of anxiousness and anger on his face.

"You're back.", he says warily. Ariadne sigh in answer and leans on street lamp.

"What was that?", Oliver asks angrily. "You left me in the middle of street and just went with some guy! Who is he?", he demands.

"He's…", Ariadne hesitates. Who is Eames for her? She doesn't know, not really. "He's nobody.", she finally finishes lamely and tries to pass by Oliver, but he grabs her arm.

"So you left me for nobody?", he demands.

The anger in Oliver's eyes, the whole meeting with Eames force Ariadne to something she almost never do; to cry.

She starts sobbing despairingly confusing Oliver, who embraces her gently. His anger vanishes the minute Ariadne starts crying.

"Shhh,", he murmurs softly. "Easy, Ari, easy. Come on, we'll get inside.", he gently places his hand on small of her back and guides her toward door.

As soon as they get in their room, Oliver decisively seats her on the bed. He places himself in front her, determination shining in his eyes.

"And now tell me about this job.", he says firmly.

And Ariadne obeys.

First words are hard to express, they're choking her. But then they go more smoothly, faster and faster, like uncontrolled waterfall.

Somewhere in the middle of the story she starts crying again, feeling the bitterness of her own tears on her lips.

Oliver just sits still, not saying anything at all. It's somehow easier this way, like he isn't the real person, like the promise she made, which that obliged her not to tell anybody anything, doesn't include Oliver.

When she finally finishes, she raises her head to look at him and immediately regret it.

There's an utter shock in his eyes, mixed with something indefinable. Maybe disgust?

Ariadne isn't sure.

They're looking at each other for a couple of minutes, when Ariadne eventually decides she won't stand it any longer.

"Say something!", she demands, her voice sounds weakly and hoarsely after crying. Nevertheless, it wakes up Oliver, who stands up, not taking his eyes of her.

"You…", he's looking for words, but nothing comes to his mind. "How…", he starts again and this time he finally forces his mind to express his feeling. "You, all this _team_", he hisses. "You changed completely this man life! You might ruined it! Ariadne, how could you join such things? How could you enter somebody's mind and messed it?"

Ariadne feels very small and vulnerable in this moment. She knows that Oliver is right; they all committed a crime, maybe the worst person can do: the forced human being to threw away everything he knew and fell into an utter lie.

She shivers, feeling suddenly hatred toward herself. Oliver is right, how she could do such things?

And the answer immediately appears in her mind.

_Because is nothing quite like this._

Ariadne looks up and meets the unbelieving look of Oliver's blue eyes.

"I…", she starts, but suddenly Oliver pulls her into tight hug.

"We'll fix it.", he whispers fervently. "Everything."

The feel of his warm body around her makes her become aware of fact how exhausted she is. So she doesn't ask him what he wants to fix, just simply sinks into this warm safety.

* * *

Arthur looks around. Nothing seems too suspicious, but it doesn't make him feel safe. Which way choose?

Left.

The exact moment he starts walking, black van arrives.

_Fuck. It's definitely not my lucky day._

Arthur quickens his pace, but he already knows that he's doomed.

There's no way he could possibly escape car. He hears a roar of engine just behind him and jumps aside, the bonnet lightly hit him and sends on his knees.

"Mr. Arthur. How rude to escape before main guests have came.", he hears and stands up. His hands are bleeding after hard contact with ground, but well… He has more urgent things right now, than that.

"Trying to knock down one of the guest isn't polite either.", he observes calmly.

Man chuckles shortly. "Get in to the car.", he commands. Arthur knows very well that he has to obey.

"We had an agreement.", says the man, when they're sitting in car. "And then, all of sudden, you decided to shoot two our men and ran away. Any particular reason for such behavior?"

Despite the gravity of situation Arthur wants to laugh.

"If I says that's all because of woman?", he half-ask, half-states.

Man next to him dangerously narrows his eyes. "Enough of that. You broke our agreement, but we'll let you live. Yet, you'll give us Cobb."

Arthur stays silent, feeling the knot inside him tighten.

"You'll give us Cobb and extract information we need from Saito.", continues man.

Arthur arches his eyebrow, fighting to hold his composure. "That's exactly the same order we got from you before."

"But this time you won't lose and bring information we requited."

"Impossible.", Arthur reacts immediately. "Saito knows about us, he's never let us close to him."

Man leans to Arthur, close enough to makes him feel his breath on face. "So you'll find some kind of solution for that."

"Why us?", Arthur asks.

"You're the best.", man observes lazily. "No sense in hiring any other team. But that shouldn't bother you right now. Now we need you to tell us where Cobb is."

Arthur fells that something suspiciously similar to panic raises in his chest. "Cobb is free man, I can't say where he's right now.", he forces himself to say coolly.

'Oh, really? So, maybe a little help would come in hand. Three weeks ago Cobb left airport in LAX and headed to his home. As far as we know he had got there, but the next day he was absent, as well his kids. Where is he now?"

Arthur narrows his eyes. "I don't know.", he says firmly. Man shakes his head in irritation.

"Your stubbornness will kill you some day.", he observes.

Arthur shrugs in answer. "Everybody has to die some day."

"Fine.", man gestures his bodyguard toward Arthur.

The blow is sudden and hard, it leaves Arthur gasping for air.

"I'll ask once again: Where's Cobb?"

"I don't know.", Arthur hisses behind clenched teeth.

"You really don't leave my any other option.", man says with sigh.

This time Arthur is prepared for stroke.

* * *

Next days of summer pass like in fever. Nothing is exactly clear and nothing can catch her focus.

Ariadne stays with Oliver, sometimes feeling ridiculous. He treats her strangely, the mix of love and disappointment. She is very aware of fact if he could he'd never let her join the team. And she almost agree with him; after all, almost nothing good happened because of that.

Almost.

She still remembers the disbelief and happiness in Cobb's eyes, she saw in the airport. She still remember creating. She still remember oh so rare Arthur's full smile.

And can't help but feel the hint of satisfaction when she reads about Fisher dissolving his father's empire.

Yet, in the same time, she feels incomplete, like something broke inside her and disappeared with Dreams.

That's way she stays with Oliver. He's trying so hard to fill her, make her alive again…

It's not his fault he can't wake her up.

Awakening comes from somebody different.

The knock in the door is hard and urgent. Ariadne looks disapprovingly toward it, like it could help in anything. Oliver went shopping and Ariadne simply lays on her bed, letting her mind flying through fantasies.

She drags herself from bed and opens the door without checking whose behind it.

And freezes.

It's Eames.

"You…", she stammers and that's everything she's able to say before he pulls her into bear hug.

"You're still here. God, you're here.", she hears him murmuring. She breaks away from his arms and looks at him with frown.

"Fisher took Cobb.", he says before Ariadne has a chance to ask. She feels her mouth drops open and for moment isn't sure whatever she hears properly.

"He found out about inception, I don't know why and now he's trying every single of us.", Eames shakes his head, closing his bleary eyes for moment. "Not sure what he wants from us."

"And… the rest?", Ariadne asks quietly, fear in her voice.

"Yusuf's fine. Saito has his own army, so don't be afraid.", Eames answers immediately. "I was afraid of you, you didn't answer my calls…", he glances at her suspiciously.

Ariadne is aware that she neglected herself lastly, but that's not important right one.

The question comes from her almost unwillingly. "And Arthur?"

Eames is silent for moment and panic raises in Ariadne's chest.

"I don't know.", Eames admits finally with difficulty. "He hasn't been captured by Fisher, I'm sure of that. Still he disappeared somewhere. Don't worry, thought.", he says catching the look of fear in her eyes. "He's Arthur, he'll be ok. now we need to take care of you."

"Wait.", Ariadne stops him. "What you mean by that?"

"Darling, you can't stay here alone.", Eames shrugs.

"I'm not alone.", Ariadne says defensively.

"You're still with this asshole?", Eames goggles. "Amazing, didn't know you're so patient.", he teases her but his eyes are serious. "Listen, Ariadne. We don't know what Fisher wants, but it can't be anything good. We need to disappear and I have wonderful place to hide us."

Ariadne looks at him silently. Thoughts rush in her head with speed of light. She knows Eames is right; she can't stay here, it's too dangerous. Still the thought of leaving her flat, Oliver, her _life_ with him makes her rebellious.

"Ariadne, please.", Eames actually pleads, determination and fear in his eyes.

Ariadne nods hesitantly. "I need to… I need to take some things with me."

"Fine.", Eames relaxes slightly. "But be hurry."

Ariadne takes her travel bag and bungs into it everything which can come in handy. She has no idea what she should take with her and the whole situation resembles her trashy action movie.

The last things she does before leaving is writing a brief note to Oliver.

_Dear Oliver, _it says,_ I __needed __wanted to leave. Don't look after me. I hope you'll forgive me someday. Ariadne. _

She puts it on kitchen's table and Eames grabs her hand. "It's time to leave.", he says firmly.

She doesn't allowed herself to cry until they get into the car.

Eames doesn't make any attempt in comforting her; he's very well aware that's impossible right now and Ariadne is grateful for that.

She's not sure when cry turns into heavy sleep.

"Ariadne, sweetheart, wake up.", Eames gently touches her shoulder. Ariadne opens her eyes to find out it's already dark outside. She sees empty street, lighten only by few street lamps. The car is parked in front of old tenement house with falling off plaster.

"Where are we?", she demands.

"In my home-country.", Eames answers. "Well, in the less representative part of it.", he adds like on second though.

"I'd slept all the way from Paris to England?", Ariadne asks with disbelief.

Eames chuckles. "Astonishingly, yes. I've never seen anybody sleeping so peaceful during the escape. Come on, I'll show you our apartment."

He grabs her bag and Ariadne follows him obediently.

She can't exactly define her feelings right now; she feels confused, nothing is as she expected today's morning. She should be in her flat right now, with Oliver. Yet, she's here, the whole life of her left behind.

It should breaks her, but it doesn't.

For the first time since long time Ariadne feels alive and ready to live. Of course, she's scared and the thought of everything she left is painful, but adrenaline bumping in her veins doesn't let her sink into sorrow. With surprise she finds out that all this things make her excited.

"I'm crazy", she mutters to herself. Eames glances at her over his shoulder. Their eyes meet and he smiles.

"Like everybody in this business.", he says gently.

It makes Ariadne stop in the middle of corridor. She knows it ridiculous to feel so happy in such circumstances, but she can't help it.

It's like with this short sentence all her dreams come true; since inception she wanted so badly to come back to Dreams, to be a part of team achieving impossibilities again.

No matter how insane it is.

The feeling of excitement is overwhelming that she almost want to kiss Eames and start dancing.

The only thing stopping her is anxiety of rest of the team.

Cob is taken, she reminds herself. She doesn't want to remember that Arthur disappeared somewhere, it's too much to bear right now.

Eames stops her in front of wasted door.

"Here it is.", he says with roguish smile and opens the door.

Ariadne gasps. She's never expect anything like that in such house.

The apartment in front her eyes is nothing like her own tiny flat in Paris.

First of all is huge, with winding stairs that probably leads into second floor.

Secondly it's exactly in Arthur's taste; modern and somewhat cold, with low-key colour scheme and expensive furniture.

"It's…", Ariadne turns to Eames with question in her eyes.

"Yeah, it's Arthur's.", he admits.

"And he gave you address and keys?", Ariadne asks suspiciously.

"Well… Not exactly.", Eames says shamelessly. "But it makes impression, doesn't it?"

"Yes, is does.", Ariadne admits absently. She sits on the couch, fingering lightly the its head rest.

Is that where Arthur leans his head, while working on his laptop?

Ariadne closes her eyes, the feel of excitement slowly falters from her, leaving her weak and vulnerable. She can say that Eames observes her intently.

"Don't think about past.", she hears him saying.

"That's how it works?", she asks opening her eyes. "Just leave everything behind you and go further?"

From the first time Ariadne met Eames she sees sadness in his eyes. "That's price we pay, darling. Dreams are a gift and they come with a price."

Ariadne slowly nods her head in acknowledgment.

After all, she wants to pay this price.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Special thanks for Legal-Assassin-006 for leaving review!**

Ariadne listens Eames murmured talk when he speaks with someone on phone. She can catch only single words, but nevertheless she's sure is not Arthur to whom Eames speaks to. She can say it by his tone of voice.

Eames leans over her. "Yusuf sends you regards.", he says unexpectedly.

She jumps slightly. "He's fine!", she exclaims happily, the burden in her heart a little lighter.

They're in Arthur's flat third day. Most of them Eames spent talking on his phone with various people, never letting Ariadne hear his conversations. She keeps asking him what they're going to do, but he dismissed her with a wave of hand.

Yet, no he sits in front of her, seriousness in his gray eyes and Ariadne feels that at last something will happen.

"I'm still not sure what Fisher wants from us.", Eames announced. "Still now I'm 100 percent sure that he's after every single one of us. Which means he wants a team."

"You think, he wants us to work for him?", Ariadne asks with disbelief.

"Well, I don't think we'd get payment for that, but it's quite possible, yes.", Eames answers with sigh.

"And Cobb?", Ariadne doesn't take her eyes from his face. No matter how good liar Eames is, Ariadne is sure she'll know if he lays to her.

"He's fine.", Eames says shortly, Ariadne sigh with relief; he's telling truth. "As far as I know they kept him in decent condition, he's healthy. It seems that they waiting for the rest of us."

Before asking next question Ariadne hesitates much longer. "And… Arthur?", she finally manages to say.

The look in Eames's stormy eyes is enough.

Ariadne half-sigh, half-sob and looks stands up.

"He kicked me off his life.", she announced standing near window, back to Eames. "After we landed in L.A..", she clears. "I've something stupid and he told me to leave him alone. And I obeyed."

She can hear Eames goes closer to her and stands, the warm air of his breaths tickles her neck.

"Tell me, Eames.", she clenches her fingers on window sill. "Tell me… Why I miss him. He treated me like some stupid child and forced me to leave and I tried so hard to forget him and nothing worked!", her voice raises dangerously and Ariadne forces herself to stop.

She doesn't expect any kind of response, so Eames words surprise her.

"That's how he is.", Eames says simply.

"And that's everything?", she asks, finally looking at him. His eyes are dark and unreadable.

"That's enough.", he answers firmly and Ariadne understands that he's right.

They stand much longer by the window, united with some strange sort of comprehension.

Surprisingly is Ariadne, who wakes up first.

"You have a plan, don't you?", she says. Eames shakes his head like he wants to clear his mind from something. Memories maybe?

"Yes. And it involves you into action.", he admits honestly.

Ariadne looks at him with huge eyes. She was so sure that Eames's never let her go into action, that she can't believe her own ears.

"You're sure?"

Eames shrugs defensively. "Fisher caught Cobb, but they spend tin Dream quite long time together, besides Cobb is well-known."

"Wait.", Ariadne interrupts. "I think you started in backwards."

"Oh.", Eames abashes. "Yeah. So you'll be the one, who finds out what Fisher plans are."

"I?", Ariadne asks, taken aback. "But… In Dream?"

"No. In reality. Look, darling: you're woman, a beautiful one. If you try, you'll make Fisher sings all his secrets and plans.", Eames explains calmly.

"Oh.", Ariadne manages to say weakly. "You want me to have sex with him?", she demands.

Eames looks offended. "Honey, nothing like that! There's plenty of ways woman can wrap man around her little finger, really."

"So, maybe you should do it? Since you're so experienced in that matter!", she yells angrily.

Before Eames can answer anything they hear click of door's lock.

Eames forces Ariadne down, covering her with his own body. Ariadne isn't sure when he managed to pull out his gun, but there it is, in Eames hand.

It seems like eternity before door are finally open. Eames successfully shuts sight off, so Ariadne only feel that Eames body tenses for a moment to relax a little later.

"You.", it's all Eames says, but that's enough for Ariadne. She immediately recognize this special tone in his voice.

It's Arthur.

"Go off from me!", she demands firmly. Eames listens her, albeit slightly reluctantly.

Arthur stands in door frame, an expression of utter shock on his face.

"What… _How?_! Why?", he finally manages to say. Under any other circumstances Ariadne would find is amusing; she has never seen Arthur speechless.

Eames shrugs lazily in this infuriating manner of him. "We needed safe apartment to stay in.", he explains. Ariadne's sure that only she notices how relief in his eyes turns into pain, just to disappears second later.

"So you decided to broke into my flat.", Arthur says coldly, his face as always emotionless. He looks at her and something flickers in his eyes, but vanishes before Ariadne can say what it was. Yet, his eyes are not the usual lakes of melted chocolate. They're dark and raging. This look hits Ariadne hard.

It's exactly the same way he looked at her just before knocking her off his life.

"I'll be upstairs.", she says coldly. "Tell me when you finish this nonsense argument.", she turns on her heel, nobody stops her.

"Now come unstuck of this frame and sit down before you'll faint.", Eames says quietly. Arthur glares at him, but takes few stops, which quickly turn into to half-run. Eames follows him only to discover him in bathroom, hovering over toilet bowl.

Eames wants to rub Arthur's back but he stops himself.

"Easy, easy.", he just murmurs softly. Arthur mumbles something in answer, choking on words.

"Will you tell me what went wrong? And breath, darling, breath.", Eames says, when Arthur finally straights up. "Slow and deep breaths."

Arthur groans in answer and leans his forehead on cool wall of bathroom. "It'd be…", the rest of sentence dies muffled by his hand.

"Once again.", Eames says gently.

Arthur detaches himself from wall and glances at him unfriendly. "I've said it would be easier to say what didn't."

Eames looks at him for a moment. "There's whole night for talking.", he says eventually. "Come on, darling I'll make you tea. Tea can do miracles.", he smiles.

Arthur, surprising himself, follows Eames to room. He sits on the leather couch and rests his head on its back.

"Just no tea, please.", he says. "You know I hate it."

"It was hard not to notice. You can get coffee, but I won't hold you, while you'll be throwing up, after drinking it.", Eames teases lightly.

Arthur finds himself smiling slightly. "You want me to trust you.", he observes.

"I can promise you tea won't kill you, but you need to take a leap of faith, I'm afraid.", Eames answers, looking at him intently.

Arthur looks… well, like Arthur. Maybe slightly more tired and a little paler, but nothing extraordinary.

He puts a mug of tea besides Arthur, who eyes it suspiciously, like it could attack him. Under any other circumstances Eames would make some nasty comment about it, but now he needs to find out what happened.

"Will you tell me something more?", he inquires.

Arthur shrugs. "As I said, everything screwed up.", with a grimace he finally takes a sip from his mug.

"Arthur, you need to be a little more specific.", Eames announces with a hint of forbearance in his voice, which makes Arthur glares at him with dislike.

"Fine.", he suddenly decides and put mug aside with a clatter. "It seems it would be the easiest way to get rid of you."

Eames just shrugs in answer.

"But firstly you tell me why you're here. And why Ariadne is here.", the second sentence Arthur adds like afterthought.

"Fisher is after us. After every single of us.", Eames clarifies.

Arthur snaps his head, alert in his eyes. he doesn't need to say anything, Eames knows what question he'd like to ask.

"He has Cobb.", he admits bleakly.

"No.", Arthur whispers and leans over the rest of couch. "Shit. You know why?"

"No.", Eames bites his full lip. "I've checked everywhere, nobody knows. In fact I was thinking about sending Ariadne to spy on him…"

"No!", Arthur's react is immediate. "Ariadne want take part in this!"

"What if there won't be any other way but working for Fisher?", Eames asks, looking at Arthur intently.

"It's out of question.", Arthur snaps angrily. Any other time Eames would make nasty comment about such emotional react, but it's not time for things like that. Instead of that he gently touch Arthur's arm.

"Better tell me why you look like half-dead.", he says softly, but with a hint of command in his voice.

"Cobol Engineering.", Arthur's response is short. "They wanted Cobb and me to perform Extraction on Saito."

Eames frowns. "But you've tried before! And failed…"

Arthur shrugs and winces, like in pain. "It was supposed to be a sneaky plan.", he splutters. "But they couldn't find Cobb anywhere. And now I understand why.", he finishes bitterly.

Eames doesn't speak or ask further; everything is clear right now. Cobol wanted information and beating somebody is the simplest way to make him talk.

Yet, he scrutinizes Arthur. "You'll be ok?", he asks somewhat anxiously.

Arthur just waves his hand. "Yeah. I'll try to speak with Ariadne.", he announces and stands up. Eames stays silent. When Arthur goes up the stairs, he absently touch still warm place, where Arthur's head rested.

There's dark upstairs.

"Ariadne?", Arthur asks hesitantly. "Could we speak?"

Suddenly he feels her warm and fragile body pressed to him.

"Arthur I was so afraid.", she whispers fervently. Her lips finds his and catches in desperate and hard kiss. He freezes for a moment, but his body overtakes his mind and answers, as despairingly and hungrily as her.

For a moment there's nothing more but two bodies and two hearts beating so close to each other.

Then suddenly Arthur pulls back, leaving Ariadne feel very hollow without his body pressed to her.

"Why…", she whispers, her voice broken.

"I shouldn't, can't…. I… Don't want.", Arthur stammers.

"Why?", Ariadne repeats and touches his chest.

"Just…", Arthur tenses. "Just", he repeats more firmly this time and takes step back. Ariadne reached hand falls.

"I understand.", she says coldly and turns back. The door of room closes behind her with loud crack.

"That's amazing.", Arthur hears suddenly.

"What?", he snaps furiously.

"Your ability to hurt almost everybody you care about. I always wonder if it's genetic or studied." , Eames answers slowly.

"Why don't you just go away?", Arthur yells. "If I'm so horrible. Why don't you all just go away?"

"Oh, Arthur.", Eames laughs humorlessly. "Don't ask about things you don't want to get."

Arthur stays silent for a moment, before he turns back with murmured "I need to go to sleep."

He disappears on staircase a moment later.

* * *

In the morning Arthur wakes up, hearing quiet voices from kitchen.

"Dress?", someone snaps, who Arthur immediately recognizes as Ariadne. "Why dress?"

"Because Fisher likes girls wearing dresses.", Eames's response is patient with a hint of amusement. Arthur lays a little longer, feeling strangely lonely and slightly affronted.

Nobody even tried to wake him up.

And now they're sitting in the kitchen and chatting…

_Guess, I deserves that._

Arthur stands up with sigh. The idea of facing Eames and especially facing _Ariadne _doesn't seem tempting, but well… He can't do anything about it.

"Our sleeping beauty finally wakes up.", Eames teases, when Arthur enters the kitchen. Ariadne doesn't even look at him, her gaze in coffee mug.

Arthur doesn't answer and fills his own mug with coffee. He sits beside Ariadne, who rapidly stands up and with mumbled "I'll check that dress" rushes away.

Arthur forces down his urge to follow her and do something really stupid.

Like kissing her again.

"So how exactly your plan looks like?", Arthur asks Eames, who glances at him with an arched eyebrow and obviously stops himself from some nasty comment.

"You know that's the closest thing to an apologize I've ever heard from you?", he answers with question a moment later. "Darling.", he adds a second later with mischievous smile.

Arthur just glares at him in answer.

"Ok.", Eames starts. "I was planning to send Ariadne as our spy, you know that already. She's beautiful woman…"

Arthur gulps at this words but says nothing.

"and", Eames continues "she's in Fisher's type. In the same time he shouldn't remember her. It's rather unlikely he'll recognize her, especially in dress. Of course since you're finally here, you should start your researches. You're a Point Man after all."

"I've already started.", Arthur interrupts. "All I know right now is that it's not only about revenge. It's supposed to be rather redemption; something that let Fisher to regains all the power he lost by previous action." The unspoken "inspired by us." hovers in the air between them for a moment.

"Any hunches?", Eames asks.

"I have one.", Arthur slowly admits. "And hopefully it's not what Fisher'd like us to do."

"Eames?", Ariadne's voice interrupts him. "Can you help me?"

Arthur instinctively wants to stood up, but Eames's stops him. "I wouldn't do that. She'll eat you alive.", with that he come out of the kitchen.

"What, love?", Arthur hears him. Ariadne's answer is too quiet to catch and Arthur feels the sudden wave of jealousness; he should be there, he was always the one helping Ariadne. Of course it was Cobb, who hired her, but he was her teacher only on the very beginning. The rest was Arthur's responsibility.

And, surprisingly, Arthur didn't mind it at all. What is more, he used to her question, her smile, her laugh… He used to her.

Way too strong.

He slowly enters the living room, to discover Ariadne and Eames wondering which of dress is the best one. He leans over Ariadne's arm and looks for a moment on the computer screen.

"This would be magnificent.", he says finally, pointing at dark-green one. "Have you already bought plane tickets?", he asks Eames, feeling Ariadne's curious gaze at him and forcing himself not to look at her.

"Yeah. We're leaving in Thursday, at 9 am.", Eames answers calmly.

"It gives us three days left…", Arthur states in reflection. "Fine, maybe I'll find out something more.", with that he comes out form the room.

* * *

When Ariadne gets her dress in Wednesday, Arthur with satisfaction discovers it's the green one.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Dedicated to Ethie and Legal-Assassin-006;) Your reviews give me courage to continue this story!**

**If you read don't hesitate to leave a review!**

Of course Ariadne doesn't sit beside him in a plane. There's no way she could do that; she avoided him all days, before the flight.

But she bought the dress Arthur chose, didn't she?

With that in his mind Arthur finale decides to apologize. He's never been good at that; apologizing means showing your true emotion and that was always hard for him. His apologizes are official and cold, usually make people even angrier.

Not that Arthur says "sorry" often.

Because he's definitely not.

The decided to stay together in one hotel, before they left England. It seemed safer: in every moment they could check what happen with others. Back in England Arthur didn't like that plan, it was against his survival instincts.

Now he's happy about it.

He knocks in Ariadne's room door gently.

"Just a moment!", he hears and a couple of second later she opens the door. Her hair are disheveled and she's wearing a bath robe. Seeing him she freezes.

"Oh. Arthur", she says eventually, first words spoken to him since their kiss.

"Yes.", Arthur unnecessarily confirms. "Can we speak for a moment?"

Ariadne hesitates for a moment, before moving away from the door and nodding slightly.

"So? What you want to say?", Ariadne breaks the silence between them.

"I…", Arthur stammers. "Are you afraid?", he finally asks, before he stops himself.

Ariadne looks at him with surprise. "Afraid of what?"

"Of what might happen tomorrow.", Arthur answers quietly.

The disbelief on Ariadne's face is clear. "Eames reassures me all days long that nothing can happen to me and now you're here and ask me that kind of question. Why? Arthur, why? Why are you here?"

"Ariadne, I shouldn't have been…", Arthur starts, but she interrupts him.

"Yes, you shouldn't have.", she says firmly. "No leave."

Arthur obeys, albeit reluctantly.

Eames finds him half an hour later in hotel's bar, sitting with half-empty glass.

"Isn't me who is supposed to be so cliché?", Eames asks with smirk. Arthur looks at him without comprehension. Eames gestures widely on Arthur, hiss drink and the whole place. "Drinking alone after being rejected by woman… or man.", he adds with afterthought.

Arthur sighs heavily. "Eames, I've never gave you any reasons to believe that I would like to be someone else than your friend, you know that."

"Of course, I know.", Eames admits. "But hope dies in the very end, am I right?"

Arthur just shakes his head in disbelief.

"As for Ariadne.", Eames continues. "You'll go with her tomorrow."

"What? We decided she's going alone?", Arthur immediately says.

Eames just glances at him. "Yeah, and you want me to believe you'll let her go alone there?"

"There're ways no to be seen.", Arthur shrugs in answer.

"You should go with her officially and then have a huge argument. It won't be hard to play, considering how Ariadne acts right now. Fisher will be more than eager to wipe her tears."

"So you want me to go with her and then argue? Eames I'm impressed. There's no better way to makes everything even worse than is now."

"Your condescension, as always, is much appreciated, Arthur.", Eames smiles in answer. "But it won't make things worse, trust me."

"Guess, I don't have a choice.", Arthur answers with sigh. "Want something to drink?"

Eames starts to laugh. "Darling, why can't behave so openly and naturally toward Ariadne? It'd fix everything within minutes."

"Because acting naturally toward you doesn't mean creating a romantic relationship, which almost in one hundred percent would end tragically.", Arthur answers immediately, seriousness in his brown eyes.

"You're unbelievable.", Eames states, shaking his head. "Don't get drunk!", he adds jumping off the bar stool and leaving Arthur alone with his drink.

* * *

Ariadne desperately glares into the mirror. She feels strange without her usual scarf, her neck and collarbone naked and visible.

Yet, she's proud; the dress is astonishing and suits her perfectly. Charming Fischer in such outfit shouldn't be too hard.

She opens the door, hearing Eames's steps.

"Ariadne!", he exclaims. "You look amazing!"

"Thanks.", she answers with smile and brush the light fabric of her dress. Before she can close the door, Arthur appears.

And freezes, his dark-brown eyes stare in Ariadne, like there's nothing else on the whole world. It's Eames who pushes him lightly further into the room.

"Great, you're here.", he announces cheerfully. "Ariadne, Arthur will go with you today."

"What?", Ariadne turns to Arthur, visibly angry. "Why? How can I catch Fisher if I go with you? And what if he recognize you?"

"Eames's idea.", Arthur says before he can stop himself. Ariadne's charm is almost too much for him. "Listen, Ariadne.", he adds, forcing himself to stay calm. You have to know that Fisher caught Cobb not because he recognized him. He found out somehow about inception and the true is that everybody in Dream business know that only Cobb could do it."

"Someone sold him?", Ariadne's eyes are wide with disbelief. "Just like that?"

"Yeah. Just like that.", Arthur answers with sadness in his voice. "The possibility that Fisher will recognize any of us is almost none. That's not the way you remember things from dreams, especially from the induced one."

His words visibly calms her anxiety, but it makes Ariadne focus once again on Arthur as her partner. She looks crossly at Eames, who shrugs with innocent smile.

"I don't have a proper suit, for charity ball, sweetheart.", he says firmly and Ariadne knows she lost this battle. She shakes her head in irritation.

"So what exactly I'm supposed to do?", she asks, sighing.

"Have an argument with Arthur in front of Fisher.", Eames answers immediately. "He's the type of man, who can't stand the picture of beautiful woman crying."

"Wonderful.", Ariadne states. "Now go away, both of you, I need some time to finish preparations."

They obeys and as soon as Ariadne closes her door Eames feels a heavy grip on his arm.

"Something wrong?", he asks innocently, expecting Arthur to be angry.

Yet, Arthur's have some strange look, but before he can decide whatever it is, he hears a quiet "Thank you.". It completely surprise him, but Arthur turns rapidly too quick to hear Eames's question.

Arthur wishes the feeling of Ariadne hand in his own one wouldn't be so natural and pleasant. He smiles politely and takes two glass of champagne from waiter. He embraces Ariadne tighter, feeling a sudden pang when he notices that she tenses on this closer touch.

"We need to find Fisher. And smile.", he whispers into her ear. he's pretty sure that for anyone it looks like a quiet compliment.

Ariadne smiles nervously and nods in answer. She wishes Arthur's touch wouldn't make her shiver from pleasure. She forces herself to breath shallower not to smell his scent. It would be too much her.

Arthur first notices Fisher, who's standing lonely, with glass in his hand. He gently occupies her cheek with his hand and before Ariadne realizes what's happening he's kissing her.

It's neither like their "inception kiss", nor kisses they shared in dark corridor of Arthur's flat.

It's long, deep and… calculated?

This thought makes Ariadne furious. She pushes away rapidly form Arthur, still feeling his taste on her lips.

"Don't!", she starts and realizes where they are and who they're pretending to be. But it's too late to stop, most of people are looking at them, including Fisher.

Luckily Arthur doesn't lose his mind.

"Why?", he asks bitterly. "Why don't you want me to kiss you in public?"

"I…", Ariadne is startled how authentic Arthur sounds. "It's not like that!", she finishes lamely.

"Oh, really?", Arthur raises his voice, catching even more attention by that. "You're ashamed of me! You don't even like when I touch you in the presence of somebody else!"

"You're unfair!", Ariadne snaps. "It's you who spoils everything!", she adds, not longer sure if she's acting or not.

"That's what you think?", Arthur asks, this time his question is quiet and Ariadne sees a pain in his eyes.

It doesn't look like a fake one.

Yet, they have a job to do.

"Yes, that's what I think.", she says firmly and for a moment she's sure that their role turns over; Arthur will be the one crying and she the one turning on her heel and spend the rest of the evening sipping drinks.

Yet, Arthur manages to regain his composure and angrily narrows his eyes. "I won't discuss it further, not here.", he says coldly and goes away, leaving Ariadne in the middle of the room.

She silently thanks that Fisher's standing in the corner, close to the window; perfect place for abandoned woman to hide herself.

Ariadne leans on wall, carefully wiping her eyes, trying not to ruin her makeup. Fisher shifts nervously beside her.

"Excuse me.", he says carefully. "I couldn't help to notice…"

"Oh. Probably everybody noticed.", Ariadne answers bitterly. Fisher flinches slightly and she curses silently. "But, I…", she pauses not sure what to say.

Fisher catches her bait.

"First time in a event like this?", he asks sympathetically. "Don't be afraid, until all this things end nobody would remember anything."

"Really?", Ariadne says quickly. "I have no idea what happened… I'm sorry."

"For what?", Fisher frowns.

"That you have to watched this scene.", Ariadne answers firmly. "Drink a champagne with me.", she adds, hoping that she won't scare Fisher by her quick pace.

He looks at her with hesitance in his eyes, before he finally gently takes her hand.

"Shall we?", he asks softly. "There's beautiful view from terrace."

Ariadne smiles nervously. "Oh, I… Yes. Thank you."

She almost feel the tension from Arthur when they pass by him. She forces all her thoughts about him down. She needs a clear mind, Fisher is too hard to read in to let herself be distracted.

Arthur takes another sip from his drink. It seems everything goes according to the plan; Ariadne caught Fisher's attention, he, himself, is not bothered by anyone.

Yet, everything feels wrong. Their argument was way too real, like they didn't act. It's painful for him; what if Ariadne really thinks he spoils everything he touch?

What if it's true?

He leans on the wall near to terrace's entrance. It shouldn't surprise anybody; even the angriest man would like to know what his girlfriend is doing with another guy. He looks from the glass of door, Ariadne is standing beside rail, clearly impressed by city landscape.

Ariadne breaths heavily the cool night air, the landscape of city lights in front of her.

"It's beautiful.", she says honestly. "Like in a dream."

"Better than in a dream.", Fisher answers and stands closer to her. "Could I tell you a tale?", he asks suddenly. Ariadne looks at him, surprised and slowly nods her head.

Something is wrong, she can feel it. But what?

"Once upon a time.", Fisher starts. "There lived a boy. He wasn't happy, he was very lonely after his mother had died. He grown up knowing that everything he'd get from his father would be a great and powerful kingdom. He would do everything to get a little of love instead of that, but there was no way he could change things."

Ariadne stifles a chill. She's scared by Fisher's voice and takes a step from him, but he grabs her hand.

"Wait. I hadn't finished. One day, boy's father had died", Fisher continues, "his dreams came true. He found out that his father loved him and wanted him to be an independent man. So this boy made what he thought his father wanted him to do. He shared his kingdom and started a new life. But happiness didn't last long."

Ariadne struggles but Fisher's grasp on her hand is surprisingly strong.

Arthur narrows his eyes. obviously there's something wrong happening, he can read it from Ariadne's posture. Quickly he decides he has to do something and decisively opens the door.

"One day our boy learned that everything he found out about his father was nothing more than dirty lie. He lost his godfather, he shattered his life and destroyed his heritage because of a dirty lie.", Fisher raises his voice. "You infected me, Ariadne. You messed with my mind and for what? Money?"

Ariadne gasps, feeling like a rabbit in a trap. In her mind she sees projection of Mal, saying so similar words in the deeps of Limbo.

"Let her go.", she suddenly hears. It's Arthur, calm as always standing beside her. "It wasn't because of money, not for her."

"Do you think it makes any difference?", Fisher asks bitterly. "You took away from me what was entirely mine. It's not about money, it's about what my father truly wanted me to be. And he wanted me to be a new boss of his company."

"What do you want, Mr. Fisher? A revenge?", Arthur says quietly. "You have Cobb, you can have me. Let Ariadne goes free."

Fisher flinches visibly. "I don't want revenge. What I want is justice. My company is now divided to five parts. You will convince bosses of each part to unite them once again."

Ariadne raises her head rapidly. "You want us to perform five inceptions?"

Fisher finally let her go. "Yes. As far as I know you're the only one, who can achieve such thing."

Arthur slowly shakes his head, the expression of shock on his face. "You were trained and you should realize how hard it was to perform even one inception. It's impossible to plant the same idea in five minds!"

"Four minds.", Fisher corrects. "One of this bosses is me. Shall we find another place for this talk?", he adds seeing a couple heading to terrace's edge.

Arthur hesitates for a moment, quickly checking the nearby. He immediately catches the picture of people who can't be any one else but Fisher's security. There's this characteristic aura about them.

"Sure.", he decides shortly and gently takes Ariadne's hand. She lets him to do so without any sign of reluctance. The gently touch of his long fingers reassures her that there's still hope for them all.

They take seats in a small room with a couple of tables. Luckily there's no one else there.

"Can I ask you a couple of question, Mr. Fisher?", Arthur asks, the politeness of his question sounds strange in Ariadne's ears.

"Of course, Mr…", Fisher pauses and looks expectantly at Arthur.

"Arthur.", he says quickly.

The ridiculousness of their sudden courtesy makes Ariadne want to laugh. She stifles this urge, feeling Arthur touch on her hand tighter.

"How did you found about inception?", Arthur asks and Ariadne freezes in expectation. That's something she would like to know since she'd learned that Fisher somehow found out about it.

"My godfather's behavior, a single pieces of Dream… All in all it started to make a sense, a scary sense. I made some research and found out that there's a legendary act of planting an idea in someone's mind, called and inception. I made some further research and discovered that there's only one Extractor who could do such thing. Strangely, he just returned to family house, after having his charges cleared. I decided to invite him here. We spent a lot of time talking."

Ariadne's eyes widens on this words, the picture of Cobb being tortured clear and horrible in her mind. Once again Arthur's touch calms her down.

"I assume, your conversations with our colleague were civilized?", Arthur asks. Ariadne isn't sure if he wants to calm her or himself.

"Yes.", Fisher shortly answers. "I don't want to harm you, any of you. I simply want to hire you as a team. Nothing more."

"What if we won't make a deal?", Ariadne ventures to ask.

Fisher's smile is sad and surprisingly scaring in the same time. "I don't know. Not yet."

"We'll do it.", Ariadne says before Arthur can react.

His firm and warm grip on her hand reassures her that she said what should be said.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Beautifully thanks for every review, keep writting them, they encourage me to write! **

**(Hopefully) enjoy!**

Ariadne feels like everything around here is a strange dream. The whole talk with Fisher, her sudden courage and Arthur… She walks slowly through the room everywhere around her guests of charity ball, Arthur behind her and a couple of meters Fisher's security guys.

Fisher agreed they should go back to the hotel to inform Eames and take their things. They'll join Cobb as soon as they come back.

It's all so strange; politeness and threat in the same time.

The huge unknown.

Ariadne gasps suddenly, which startles Arthur. He grabs her hand.

"Ariadne?", he asks anxiously, but she doesn't look at him.

She's looking at a young, blonde man in front of them.

"Oliver?", she asks weakly.

He stares at her with wide eyes for a little longer, before he wakes up.

"Ariadne? You disappeared!", he exclaims, taking step towards her. Yet, before he can even touch her, there's Arthur between them.

"Who are you?", he demands coldly. It visibly surprise Oliver.

"I'm Ariadne's boyfriend.", he answers hesitantly, looking at Arthur suspiciously.

Ariadne sees Arthur flinches at his words and feels a sudden pang. She takes a decisive step in front of Arthur.

"What are you doing here?", she asks firmly, her eyes narrowed angrily.

"That's me who should ask about it!", Oliver yells in answer. "You disappeared, leaving nothing more than a note!"

Ariadne feels tension radiating from Arthur and she silently praise he'd calm down. The security guys eye them suspiciously, but they seem to be familiar with Oliver.

Familiar with Oliver?

"You told everything to Fisher?", Ariadne demands, but it doesn't make any sense, she knows that.

"He already knew.", Oliver answers angrily.

"That's how he recognized us.", Arthur suddenly says. "Your boyfriend sold you to Fisher.", he adds, his voice bitter.

"How could you?", Ariadne yells, feeling her eyes fill with tears. "How?"

There's shock on Oliver's face. "I didn't sell you!", he exclaims. "Never! I didn't know he'd find you!"

"Silence.", Arthur snaps. "There's nothing more to say, so Ariadne, come on."

He takes her hand, bout this time his grasp is stronger, almost painful. Ariadne doesn't react at that, she feels she deserves that.

The way to hotel passes in silence.

"Ok, you've got an hour.", one of the guys decides.

Arthur nods his head in acknowledgment. There's something like a silence agreement between them; nobody would try escape.

Arthur grabs Ariadne firmly as soon as they get into the lift.

"You told him about inception.", he half-asks, half-states.

"Yes.", Ariadne admits, feeling very weak. Arthur presses the STOP button and the lift stops between two floors.

"Why?", he asks and he sounds surprisingly sad. His voice almost makes Ariadne's heart break.

"I was in Rome with him and met Eames, and everything just came back and I was so alone and…", she feels tears are falling down her cheeks. She knows there're no words that could explain and justify her behavior. She broke all their promises and now she's paying for that.

What's terrible not only her.

Ariadne covers her face in her hands, not wanting to look at Arthur. She can imagine the expression on his handsome face. The sudden gently touch on her shoulder startles her.

"Ariadne… Ari.", Arthur says softly. "Don't cry, please.", he adds somehow desperately. Ariadne rapidly clings close to him, feeling that any second longer and she'd start screaming. He hesitates for a second before embracing her gently.

"We can't stay here forever.", he whispers. "We have to get out of here and you have to face the world. But you don't have to do it alone.", he adds quieter.

Their fingers are entwined when they enter Eames' room. Seeing them, he quickly stands up.

"Fisher recognized us.", Arthur says immediately. Eames freezes and eyes them with disbelief.

"How possibly…", he starts, but Arthur doesn't give him a chance to finish.

"Doesn't matter.", he says roughly. "What matter is that you need to take your things. You have…", he checks his watch. "forty six minutes for that. Then we'll meet with Cobb."

"But what Fisher wants from us?", Eames demands.

"Later. There's no time for that now.", Arthur cuts sharply. "See you in the lobby."

He comes with Ariadne to her room.

"And your things?", she asks hesitantly.

Arthur just shrugs. "I didn't unpack them. Listen, Ariadne… Look at me, please."

She obediently raises her head and stares at his eyes.

"We all make mistakes.", Arthur says slowly. "And not every single of them is our fault. Sometimes it's just…", he pauses and takes a deep breath. "Look, what I'm trying to say is that…"

The sudden sound of knocking interrupts him.

"Ariadne?", they hear Eames's voice. "Can I come in?"

Ariadne glances sideways on Arthur, who sighs and gently touch her arm, before opening the door and revealing Eames standing behind them.

"Did I interrupt anything?", Eames raises his eyebrow.

"No.", Arthur immediately answers and disappears quickly. Ariadne's looking behind him, various thoughts flying through her mind.

"So I interrupted.", Eames states. "Sorry, love, but I need to talk with you. What happened between you and Fisher?"

"He recognized us because of me.", Ariadne whispers in answer. "I told about our job Oliver and he said we'd fix everything… I didn't realize that he'd go to Australia to meet with Fisher!", she raises her voice, desperately wanting Eames to understand. He looks at her with utter disbelief in his eyes.

"You told him about inception?", he almost yells. "Fucking beautiful! Have you lost your mind? And Arthur, he knows and doesn't say anything?"

He shakes his head violently, before rushing from the room. He doesn't bother himself to knock into the door of Arthur's room.

"Ariadne told this whole Oliver about inception?", Eames exclaims. "How possibly such a clever girl could do so stupid thing?"

Arthur sighs heavily and massages his temple. "Yes, she does.", he admits. "And I can't be even angry at her. I feel like it's our fault."

"Our fault?", Eames snaps. "Arthur, do you hear yourself? She broke the most important point of our agreement! She told someone about achieving impossibilities. And because of that Fisher recognized you! Bloody hell, what's happening here?"

"Better calm down your friend.", they hear suddenly a strange voice. "The hour has already passed."

Arthur shortly nods his head toward the security guy. "Eames, take your bag.", he commands and leaves room.

"Ariadne, it's time.", he says softly, but doesn't open the door. Ariadne slowly stands up from the bed. She has been sitting there, since Eames left her room. She feels too weak to do anything and Arthur's words startle her.

She quickly opens the door and grabs Arthur's hand before he could leave.

"Will everything be fine?", she asks despairingly.

Arthur looks at her, his brown eyes serious.

"Yes, it'll be.", he answers finally.

They're avoiding each other eyes during the drive. Ariadne sees Arthur absently fingers his totem and wishes he at least glances at her. She can feel the tension radiating from Eames and tries not to pay attention to that.

The end of journey she welcomes with relief; sitting in this tensed silence was unbearable for her. Their destination is small but tasteful villa with huge garden and high wall, covering its spaces from curious looks.

They come in through a gate, security guys behind them.

"You'll live here until the job is finished.", announces one of them. "The whole place is monitored 24 hours a day, you can leave this property only with one of us. You can choose any room you want, it doesn't matter.", with that he gives a bunch of keys to Arthur. "Make yourself comfortable, Mr. Fisher will come tomorrow to discuss with you details."

They silently head toward the entrance. It seems that this vague sensation of unreality takes over everyone of them. Ariadne wishes she could change her totem right now, because everything seems to be far too strange to be real.

Soon they learn that it's not the end of surprises.

The door are opened before Arthur could put the key into the hole.

Cobb is standing behind them, wearing expression of happiness and anxiety on his face. His takes a step toward them, unsure what to do. It's Ariadne, who react first; she puts her slim arms around him and embraces tightly.

"It's good to see you.", she whispers honestly. Cobb hugs her back.

"I can't deny that is good to see you, too. Even though it could be in entirely different situation.", he answers and in silence shakes Eames's hand. Arthur greets with him with nothing more than a short nod of head.

"Ariadne, you could use some sleep.", Cobb suggests softly, seeing her circled with shadows eyes. "There's a lot of spare rooms upstairs."

Ariadne smiles weakly and nods her head, before disappearing on stairs. Eames follows her without any word.

Cob turns to Arthur, who leans on the wall, massaging his temples.

"You should go sleep, too.", Cobb says with sigh. "It's almost four am, reasonable people sleep at this time."

Arthur smiles weakly at this words. "I've never claimed I'm reasonable person.", he says quietly. "And I know how much you want to know what happened."

Dom shrugs. "It can wait until morning."

"It's almost morning anyway.", Arthur chuckles bitterly. "I need your advice.", he adds suddenly, which takes Cobb aback. Arthur's not that kind of person, who asks other for advices.

At least he wasn't that kind of person until now.

They sit in the kitchen with mugs full of strong coffee and Cobb stays silent through the entire story. He only sighs when hears about Ariadne's emotional breakdown.

"So you want to take this job?", Cobb finally asks.

"I don't think there's another way.", Arthur answers. "Having two powerful enemies would be too much even for me and as for the rest… Nobody should live as outcast, hiding in some dark places. I decided it's the only solution we have. Beside, Fisher isn't the murderous type, the result of failure shouldn't be too dangerous."

"You used to decide by yourself so fast.", Cobb suddenly says. "It feels like yesterday we were a team and now…"

Arthur shakes his head. "I need you, Dom. I knew Fisher has you and my decision couldn't be different."

"But still it's not what you wanted to ask for.", Dom says the unspoken words.

"No. It's about Ariadne.", Arthur takes a deep breath. "I'm think I'm in love with her.", he finally says, his words barely above whisper. The smile that appears at Dom's face surprises him.

"That's great.", Cobb says, apparently happy with Arthur's confession. "Because she's definitely in love with you."

It takes Arthur aback. Of course he knows that Ariadne feels something toward him, but has never expected that it could be so visible for another people. Even to Cobb, whose mind was taken by entirely different things.

"Arthur, stifle this urge to run away.", Dom continues, this time more seriously. "It doesn't make any good, neither for you nor for her."

"But the risk…", Arthur protests weakly, feeling that all his well-thought arguments just went away from him.

"The risk is bigger when she's alone than with you beside her.", Dom announces firmly. "And you should be perfectly aware by now that she'll do many things to dream again. Which is entirely my fault.", he adds warningly, seeing Arthur's opening his mouth.

"You make me feel like a stupid greenhorn.", Arthur admits with sigh.

Cob chuckles at this confession. "Try to speak with her today, I don't think she's asleep.", he suggests and Arthur obediently stand up.

The first floor of villa is less impressive than the ground floor. It's nothing more than a long corridor with many closed doors. Arthur pauses at the beginning of it.

"Where are you, Ariadne?", he whispers to himself. He scans doors with his trained eyes and then decisively comes to one of them.

"Ariadne?", he softly asks, not wanting to wake her up in a case Cobb's wrong.

"Yes?", he hears a hesitant answer a moment later.

"Can I come in?", Arthur says, praying the answer not to be "no" and in the same time, being afraid it'll be "yes".

There's no answer at all; the door are suddenly open and Arthur's staring at Ariadne, who looks even more fragilely than usual.

Arthur takes a step into the room and Ariadne does nothing to stop him from doing so. He wishes he knew what to say, but his mind is empty, there's nothing he can say.

Still there's something he can do.

For the fourth time in his life he feels Ariadne's lips under his.

But for the first time he's sure he wants it more than anything else in the world.

There's a short moment of hesitance from Ariadne before she responds, making their kiss more deeper and more passionate.

He feels one of her hands on his neck, the other tangled with his hair. She moans when he brushes her hip.

When they finally break the kiss, she surprises him completely.

"It's unfair.", she says firmly, her hand still playing idly with lock of his hair.

"I'm in a nightgown and you're in the armory of a tailored suit.", she answers seriously and that's what eventually relax him completely. Ariadne doesn't want to throw him away and everything wrong what happened last days can wait for the next morning.

Now there're only Arthur and Ariadne and nothing more.

"We can change it.", Arthur answers with mischievous smile. "Everything you need is the skill of unbuttoning."

Ariadne laughs and kisses him lightly on jaws. "That's something I'm good at.", she whispers and her voice makes Arthur shiver.

"Just… Turn off the lights, ok?", Arthur adds suddenly. Ariadne raises her huge eyes, the question clear in them.

"I want to see you.", she protests. "Let me."

Arthur stays silent for a second, which is almost like eternity for Ariadne. Finally he slowly nods his head.

He takes off his jacket and Ariadne ably unbuttons the vest and shirt. It feels strange for her; touching his body, _undressing_ him. Strangely it doesn't feel awkward, even though he stays motionless through the whole operation.

As soon as Ariadne gets him off the shirt she realizes why he asked of turning off the light.

She imagined him without any clothes a couple of times before, but she never expected that.

First thing she sees are dark bruises covering whole his chest. Then she notices scares; one of them almost invisible, another clear under the light of chandelier.

She's looking at them until Arthur shifts nervously. Yet, before he can say a single word, she reaches her hand and gently brushes the biggest scar, going from the collarbone and disappearing in his trousers. She feels he tenses under her touch, his breath slightly faster than normal.

"So that's what a Point Man do.", she states, trying to sound calmly.

"Ariadne…", Arthur starts, but she silences him with light kiss.

"It doesn't matter.", she whispers urgently. "Not tonight."

And it really doesn't.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Every single response from you, dear readers, makes me smile. I almost doesn't matter what kind of response it is (even though reviews are the most helpful one). So, here's next chapter, I hope you'll enjoy it!**

Ariadne wakes up in warm safety of Arthur's arms. She stays still, scared that the lightest move will take away the peace she's feeling, but eventually she has to give up; her left leg is going numb.

She shifts slightly her position and feels Arthur's breath changes. Without opening his eyes he embraces her tighter.

"I wish, I could stay like that forever.", he murmurs sleepily into her ear, his tone making her shiver.

It sounds like confess of love.

She frees herself from his embrace and turns to him, absently touching his scarred chest.

"You keep doing that.", Arthur observes curiously. "Why?"

Ariadne quickly puts her hand back. "I'm sorry, shouldn't…"

"I didn't say I don't like it.", Arthur interrupts her. "I'm just wondering why you do it."

Ariadne bites her lip. "I wish I could eradicate them.", she whispers and her words make Arthur's heart flips.

"Ari.", he says putting into this short word all his emotion. Ariadne understands him and smiles, gently touching his cheek.

"I…", she starts, but light knock on the door interrupts her.

"Fisher will be here in next one hour.", they hear Cobb's voice. "So better be prepared and is…?"

"Yes, I'm here.", Arthur admits, before Cobb can articulate the rest of the sentence.

"Great, see you downstairs!", Cobb goes down the stairs humming under nose. He feels strangely happy since Arthur, Ariadne and Eames went here.

He knows he shouldn't be pleased by the fact his friends were captured and now they're all forced to something fourth as hard as inception. Still, the feeling of them around him makes this situation a little more bearable. Even though it takes all Cobb's strength not to think about his children.

It's just that now he feels that something can happen; they took this job and now they have to do every possible think to do it successfully.

"Eames, you shouldn't be angry at Ariadne.", Cobb says seeing him sitting alone in the kitchen, the cigarette in left hand.

Eames shrugs in answer. "I'm not angry. I'm rather disappointed.", he adds with sigh. "I tried to speak with her and she chose to confess everything to this blonde asshole instead."

"Don't make the whole situation worse.", Dom warns, sitting beside him.

"Don't worry. I won't, I don't want to hurt her.", Eames answers seriously and Cobb immediately believes him. He doesn't have chance to say anything because in this moment Ariadne and Arthur enter the kitchen.

Ariadne looks a lot better than yesterday, Cobb notices quickly. She's not so hunted and scared. Arthur also lost this expression of weariness and he has flashes of happiness in his dark eyes.

"Hello.", they say in the same moment and it clearly makes Eames smile.

"Hello, love birds.", he answers with smirk, causing Ariadne to blush. Arthur leans closer to him, a mischievous smile, very much alike Eames', in his lips.

"Jealous, my dear?", he asks.

"Always.", Eames answers immediately, not confused at all. "I'm only not sure if for Ariadne or for you."

Arthur chuckles but doesn't get the chance to answer.

"Mr. Fisher will be within ten minutes here.", one of the security guys announced. "He asked for making the PASIV ready to use."

"PASIV?", Arthur repeats, obviously alarmed. "Mr. Fisher wants to go into the Dream?"

"Exactly.", the man answers and disappears into the corridor.

"Arthur.", Cobb touches his Point Man arm. "Come, I checked it a couple of times, but better take a look of it."

Arthur nods his head and they goes out from the kitchen, leaving Ariadne and Eames alone.

They stays silent for a moment.

"Are you angry at me?", Ariadne eventually manages to say.

"No dear, I'm not angry.", Eames answers with sigh.

"But you think I'm weak.", Ariadne says, looking at him intently. Eames shifts feeling uneasy under her gaze.

"I'm not sure you should work in this business, that's all.", he admits.

"So you think I'm weak.", she states with sigh and leave him alone.

"Why Fisher wants to Dream?", she hears Arthur's voice coming from a living room.

"I have no idea,", Cobb answers with sigh. "It can be just curiosity."

"It can be, but I don't think it's only it."

Ariadne enters the room and sees Arthur's checking the PASIV, his movements swift and smooth as he tries every button and controls it's mechanism.

"Seems to be fine.", he announces finally and raises his head. Seeing her he sent her a brief but genuine smile. She answers at it with slight wave of hand, her eyes locked on the PASIV.

That's the main reason she's here.

The mechanism that brings you induced dreams.

"Ariadne?", she hears Cobb' voice which tears her out of reverie.

"Yes?", she responses never taking her eyes from the silver device.

"Since you're the only one whose mind isn't trained we need to use your unconsciousness today.", Cobb explains with a worry expression on his face. "Do you agree at that?"

"Of course.", she answers, but in the same time she hears an angry "No." coming from Arthur.

"Arthur we can't have Fisher torn apart by angry projections at first session. And you know that the security of Ariadne's mind is the weakest one. It gives us the opportunity to actually show Fisher the world of dreams without getting him killed."

"I agree with Cobb.", it's an expected support from Eames, who stands in the door frame. "Maybe Fisher is not cold-blooded bastard, but still we can't afford ourselves to make him more angry than he's now."

"And it's nothing horrible, I mean Arthur: you were in my mind so many times when you taught me!", Ariadne turns to the Point Man, who's standing tense, his jaws clenched.

"In that case I'll be the dreamer.", at last he decides firmly. Ariadne smiles and touches his wrist gently, but he doesn't respond at this at all.

"We have to rearrange this interior.", he mutters to Eames and Cobb, who nod and help him shifting furniture. Everything is done exactly at time.

"Good Morning.", Fisher says, coming into the room. There's an expensive briefcase in his hand. "I don't think we have time to waste: here I have information about the people, marks, as I believe you call them."

He reaches his hand, unsure who should he give it to. Arthur takes it quickly and gestures toward one of chairs, opening the briefcase. There're four manila folders in it. Arthur flips through all of them briefly, while Fisher takes his seats.

"Three men and one women, in different age. Two of them has the same surname. Are they related in any way?", Arthur asks, his usual mask of professionalism and efficiency already on the place.

"They're brothers.", Fishers answers, surprised by this sudden question.

"Moment", Eames interrupts. "There's really no any other way, than this?"

Fisher sighs. "Mr. Eames, do you really believe I enjoy all of this? There's no other way to undone what's already done. So I'm asking you for inceptions.", Fisher continues.

"And why you wanted to have the PASIV prepared?", Arthur inquires.

"I want to go with you on this job."

The silence after Fisher's answer is heavy.

"It's impossible.", Cobb reacts first. "They know you, your presence in Dreams could jeopardize the whole action."

"I know it's possible to change the appearance in Dreams.", Fisher points quickly.

Eames raises an eyebrow and leans back on his chair. "It's possible.", he admits lazily. "But it's bloody difficult and, as you pointed out before, Mr. Fisher, we don't have time to waste."

"All in all", Arthur concludes. "There's no room for tourists, I'm afraid."

Ariadne suddenly feels compassion toward Fisher. She's perfectly aware how he's feeling right now; this constant desire to go back to Dreams is almost unbearable. The rest of the team used to Dreaming and they know they can Dream again whenever they want. Ariadne also got her chance.

"Still we can make some training session, a kind of warm-up.", she notices innocently. Arthur glares at her angrily, but it's too late, Fisher catches her words desperately, trying not to show emotions filling him right now.

"There's no need for the whole team.", Arthur decides firmly. "Mr. Fisher, we're going into Ariadne's subconscious, with me as the dreamer. Do you understand what I mean by that?"

Fisher thinks for a second. "Yes, I think yes. There'll be her projections, right?"

"Yes, and I'll be the one who creates the world around us.", Arthur confirms and gives Fisher the needle, who stares at it with strange look in his eyes until Cobb has mercy on him and places it in man's wrists.

"Everybody's ready?", Cobb asks, before pushing in the button on the PASIV.

Ariadne closes her eyes with familiar sensation of sedative rushing through her veins.

* * *

_Ariadne was many times in Dreams where Arthur was the dreamer; in fact almost all her training session she spends this way, listening Arthur's explanations and watching impossible things created in front of her eyes._

_She used to the urban coldness of those Dreams, with glass skyscrapers and her projections wearing official outfits._

_It's not different this time, except they're not in the city._

_They're at the yacht, slowly gliding on the river, the breath-taking sight of modern city in front of their eyes._

_Ariadne notices Fisher standing beside the board, clearly impressed with everything he sees. Arthur is nowhere to be seen, but Ariadne's sure he has to be close. She takes a few steps and stand close to Fisher._

"_It's amazing, isn't it?", she says quietly. Fisher gulps._

"_You're talking about it, or Dreams?", he asks in answer._

"_Both, I think.", Ariadne admits._

_She hears quiet steps of Arthur, who joins them a second later, putting his hand on her arm._

_It's strange: this feeling of comprehension between the three of them. It's like Fisher is their colleague, not a man, who captured their friend and he's forcing them to plant not one idea in one mind, but four ideas in four minds._

"_It's nothing else like that.", Arthur breaks the silence. "But we'll won't introduce yourself to this world. All you can expect from us is trying to get the job done, nothing more. And, believe me, Mr. Fisher: that's the best option for you."_

_Arthur gently touches Ariadne wrist and she follows him on the yacht board, leaving Fisher alone with mind-blowing views and his thoughts. _

_As soon as they disappeared from his sight, Arthur stops and gently brushes Ariadne's cheek._

"_You're as stubborn as a mule.", he complains, but there's a hint of laugh in his voice. _

"_I suppose, I should feel offended.", Ariadne answers. "But I want to thank you for showing me that. Me and Fisher.". she adds in afterthought. _

_He puts his arm around her._

"_Every single of my Dream' places you've ever seen before are a part of this city.", he admits quietly. "I wanted you to see it, before we'll start the job."_

_Ariadne shivers, knowing what Arthur doesn't say._

_Because nobody knows how it'll end._

"_Why you let Fisher sees it?", she inquiries, her curiosity always alive._

"_Call it stings of remorse.", Arthur answers after a moment of silence. "We messed with his life, after all."_

_Ariadne feels a sudden wave of affection toward this mysterious man, who probably never stops surprising her._

"_I love you.", she says with all her honesty and resolution._

_His embrace around her becomes tighter and she feels a butterfly kiss put on her neck, but it's whole response she gets._

_They still stand tangled with each other when the Dream starts collapsing._

* * *

When Arthur awakes his eyes immediately go to Ariadne, as usual. But, not as usual, she's not looking back at him, instead of that her stares intently in the middle of the room.

Arthur follows her gaze and sees an unexpected picture.

In the middle of the room stand Eames with a bleeding eyebrow ridge, one of the security guys with clearly broken nose and extremely angry Cobb between them.

He stands up rapidly, hearing Fisher does the same.

"John!", he hears Fisher's warningly tone.

"What happened here?", Arthur asks firmly, eyeing Eames.

"A small misunderstanding.", Eames drawls, his eyes never leaving his opponent.

"John.", Fisher repeats and it seems to work as the man stops glaring murderously at Eames. "Get out from here and take care of your nose.", Fisher commands.

"Mr. Fisher, if I could suggest something.", Arthur says, hoping that their silent understanding from the Dream will also be alive in the reality.

Luckily, Fisher nods his head with question in eyes.

"The security could be more invisible.", Arthur states quietly, "It'd prevent further things like that."

"I'll take under consideration.", Fisher decides and takes one more look at bleeding Eames. "I'm sure there's a first aid set in bathroom.", he adds quietly only to Arthur, before raising his voice once again. "I believe, there's when the true job is began. In a case of any needs contact with the security men, they'll inform me immediately. Good luck."

With that Fisher leaves the room.

Cobb looks after him with surprise of his face. "You convinced him not to go to the Dream.", he states with disbelief.

"Wonderful.", Eames finally says something, for the first time since Arthur and Ariadne wake up. "This time is really no room for tourists."

His voice seems to wake Ariadne up. "We need to stop your bleeding."

"Everything what is needed should be in the bathroom.", Arthur says, but Ariadne looks at him with pleading eyes.

"I don't know much about taking care of things like that.", she confess shyly. Arthur sees Eames wants to say something at this word, but luckily stops himself for doing so.

"Fine.", he states shortly. "I'll take care of that."

"You still own me for the last time I stitched you.", Eames reminds with smirk.

His words hit Ariadne. "Wait, I'll go with you.", she says quickly. "I think I could use some practice in such things."

When they all leave, Cobb sighs heavily.

"Hopefully not.", he mutters to himself. "Hopefully not."


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Thanks for your feedbacks:) **

**I'm stupidly proud of this chapter and I hope you'll like it.**

„If the bond between brother is really strong we can use it.", Arthur notices, his eyes fixed on laptop's screen. "And, as far as I know right now, it is."

They have been sitting and looking for any kind information about marks, they could possibly find since Fisher has left. Ariadne is curled on the couch, beside Arthur, patiently writing down things that "have to be checked later", as Arthur keeps saying. Cobb is already trying to make the basic of plan and Eames, who's torn between his usual nonchalant behavior and anxiety, flips through endless sheets of paper, underlying the most important things and sometimes makes nasty comments.

At Arthur's words he raises his eyes, disbelief clear in them. "Darling, are just suggested performing two inceptions in one time at two people?", he asks with curiosity. It stops Cobb writing and he also looks at Arthur.

Arthur thinks for a moment. "We have to use every possible advantage.", he shrugs.

"But not long time ago you claimed it's impossible to plant even one idea in someone's mind, not mention in two minds in the same time!", Eames protests.

"Eames, even I can't argue with facts. Performing inception is possible, so why performing two inception in the same Dream would be impossible?", Arthur explains with the slight hint of irritation.

Eames keeps watching him, when Arthur comes back to searching for information. "It's not Arthur.", Eames all of sudden announces seriously. It makes Ariadne want to laugh and she stifles chuckle.

"Eames, it's ridiculous!", Arthur snaps angrily. "Couldn't you just stay silent?"

"Arthur doesn't have imagination.", Eames continues dauntlessly. "This man on the couch, with beautiful women curled beside him definitely has imagination."

It makes Arthur's silent for a second. He eyes Eames intently and clearly happy with that what he saw he smiles and nods his head.

And then all of them come back to work.

A couple of hours later Ariadne isn't able to stifle her yawn any longer. It seems to wake up Eames, who's has been sitting inactively for some time.

"Are we calling Yusuf?", he asks. The whole team look at him.

"I was thinking about it.", Cobb admits slowly. "And I'm not sure."

"We need at least one more person.", Arthur interjects. "And all in all Yusuf proved he's not bad working at field."

"Does Yusuf have any family?", Cobb asks suddenly. His question tears Ariadne from the peace she's been feeling during the whole working.

Cobb once more was taken from his family and Ariadne feels guilty for forgetting about it.

"As far as I know he has a cat.", Eames answers, but looks expectantly at Arthur, who nods his head in confirmation.

"Nobody too close and nobody who depends on him in any way.", he reassures Cobb. "And it's only a matter of time until Fisher realizes we have to have a Chemist in our team, he's clever."

"He'll kill us.", Eames sighs. "I'll call him, but I need somebody's phone to do so, there's no money left on mine."

Arthur shakes his head in exasperation and hand him his phone.

"It's enough for today.", Cobb decides, seeing how tired expression on Ariadne's face. "And that includes you, Arthur.", he adds firmly.

Ariadne takes a shower first and, strangely, the thought of Arthur being in her bedroom makes her a little uneasy. She feels like it's only a beautiful dream, which will end soon.

When she steps out from the bathroom she sees Arthur sitting on the bed with his loaded die between his long fingers.

He looks at with sort of shy smile on his lips. "Are you afraid it's only a dream, too?", he asks hesitantly.

She places a gently kiss on his lips, before answering. "Yes, I am. But despite everything it's a dream I'd like to dream forever."

She sees how his usually dark eyes lights up with happiness.

"Me too, Ariadne. Me too.", he whispers.

"So we have four marks.", Cob starts while they're eating breakfast. "As Arthur suggested two of them we can to put under in the same time, the rest two need different Dreams."

"It wasn't hard to find a person to forge for this…", Eames searches his mind for a second. "John Coyle. The only reasonable choice is his wife, she's an owner of restaurant, here in Sydney. It shouldn't be too hard to get in touch with her."

"Fake references?", Ariadne asks curiously and takes a sip of espresso, Arthur specially prepared for her.

"Of course, my love.", Eames smiles cheerfully.

"He worked with his wife when he was young, in this very restaurant.", Arthur interjects, putting a photo of fancy looking restaurant's interior on the table among Ariadne's cup and Eames's half-eaten sandwich.

Eames and Cobb eyes meet.

"Convince him that his wife need a help with management?", Eames says hesitantly.

"Or rather that he want to come back to old days.", Cobb answers.

"Eames's idea should work better.", Ariadne interrupts, flipping through notes, she made yesterday under Arthur's dictation. "Lastly his wife started to have a spin's pains, which makes it difficult to work."

She feels Arthur's proud eyes on her and it makes her feel exactly like during preparations for her first work. But now she can show him her affection in more touchable way than just returning the gaze. She leans toward him and kisses him lightly, which makes Eames and Cobb silent for a moment.

Eames starts to laugh soon, though. He mutters something suspiciously resembling "Love birds.", under his breath, before calming down.

"He seems to be the easiest to convince.", he notices. "I think that maybe two layers Dream would be enough for him."

Everybody stare at him. Two layers Dream means no Limbo threat and it seems worth risking.

The silence breaks Arthur's phone vibration.

"It's text from Yusuf.", he says grabbing the phone quickly. "He'll be here tomorrow evening.", he glances at Eames "I'm still has no idea how you managed to convince him so quickly.", he admits.

Eames laughs shortly. "Please, just don't say that you're impressed."

"But I am, Eames, I am.", Arthur smirks. "Anyway if we won't to prepare for Coyle two-layers Dream we need to be sure that his relationship with wife is really good."

"Ariadne should check the restaurant interior, it'll be good to use it as one of the layers.", Cobb notices. "Arthur you'll go with her, there's need to make pictures and you're much more experienced in that."

"There's reservation needed.", Arthur quickly points out.

Eames glares at him with one eyebrow raised, but Arthur writes something rapidly at his laptop.

"So… Today at 6 pm. Evening dresses required.", he announces nonchalantly. It makes Ariadne jump and look at her watch.

"I think I need to do a couple of things.", she announces and leaves the kitchen.

"Whose reservation you took?", Eames shows interest, but Arthur just shrugs him off.

"Better start working on your references.", he advices.

"I'm hurt, darling.", Eames teases. "Give me your notes.", he adds.

Arthur hands them to him and in that very moment he realizes that's it.

They already started working at performing for inception.

Just like that.

The restaurant is placed in building, which is a strange mix of modernity and classicism. Surprisingly, it doesn't look half as bas, as it sounds and Ariadne eyes it curiously.

"You think I'll need to make also the outside?", she asks Arthur quietly.

"Hopefully not. Better come in, we can always take a look of it later.", he says equally quiet and forces the urge to look back at one of the security guys, who accompanies them.

"Ms. Crone and Mr. White.", he says to the waitress, who greets them at the door. He checks the names on the list and smiles.

"Of course, please follow me.", he answers immediately and leads to them toward two-seats table in the secluded corner.

"Everything is prepared.", he whispers almost voicelessly to Arthur before leaving them. Arthur stares behind him, completely surprised.

"Something wrong?", Ariadne notices his confusion, but before Arthur can says anything the waitress is back with a bottle of champagne and two glasses, already filled.

Arthur and Ariadne stares in utter silence, when put the battle and one of the glasses on table and then hands the other one to Ariadne, who takes it instinctively and freezes.

There's an engagement ring inside glass.

_Fuck, _Arthur thinks panicked, _I just ruined somebody's engagement! Ariadne, please wake up, we shouldn't look suspicious in any way…_

Ariadne has to realize the same thing, judging after the expression on her face. Yet, she finally manages to wake up and gently takes out the ring. She puts it in her finger and it's surprisingly fits her well.

She looks at it with strange expression at her face, before finally raise her eyes at Arthur. There's a strong knot in his chest.

It's like a dream.

"I…", Ariadne starts, but her voice creaks, so she coughs. "I will be your wife.", she eventually manages to say.

And Arthur realizes that she's telling the truth.

The waitress are looking at him, with pure curiosity on his face, so Arthur glares at him angrily. It makes him disappear within seconds.

"I didn't know…", Arthur starts, but Ariadne interrupts him immediately.

"I know.", she smiles and shakes her head. "I should be angry at you, you ruined somebody's accurate plan…. But I can't.", she admits somewhat shyly. Arthur gently takes her hand and places a light kiss on its palm.

"We need to give it back to its owners.", he says referring to the ring, which shines one her slim finger.

"Of course.", Ariadne answers immediately. "I don't like it anyway.", she adds with mischievous smile, which makes Arthur want to drag her out of this restaurant and take in much more private place.

He gulps and forces himself to stop thinking about her and start thinking about their job. He looks around and narrows his eyes.

"There's second floor.", he notices quietly.

"I can go looking for toilet and take a look of it.", Ariadne immediately responses. "Remember of taking photos."

With that she leaves him alone.

When she steps on the stairs she feels her cheek are burning and it's hard to focus on the interior.

Of course the ring on her hand doesn't mean anything at all, it's just a pure coincidence, but something in Arthur's eyes…

She gulps and buries all this thoughts deep inside her.

_It's not time for such things._

The rest of the evening they try to play a young future married couple and in the same time write down and remember form the interior as much as it possible.

Even though focusing on something else than each other seems to be painfully difficult.

When they finally step inside the restaurant Ariadne realizes that she has no idea what she ate at dinner and if it was delicious or not. The look in Arthur's eyes tells her she's not alone in that.

"Let's take a walk.", he suggest, looking at the security guy, who sighs and then shrugs. It seems Fisher doesn't want anyone in the team to feel trapped.

Fresh night' air is pleasantly cool on his face, when he gently takes Ariadne hand in his.

"It won't be easy.", he says quietly. "In fact is insane to believe that we can manage to do it."

Ariadne knows what he's talking about.

Of course performing four inceptions won't be easy, but she's strangely sure that with him in her side she can achieve everything.

"Shhh,", she whispers. "You ruined somebody's evening, don't ruin our."

Her smooth lips are hot on his.

„Arthur?", Ariadne asks without taking her eyes from sketches. "I'm sure I missing something here, but I can't catch what is that."

Arthur stands up from the couch he's sitting on, with his laptop, checking if all their information about Coyle are true and proper.

They're alone, both Cobb and Eames are out. Eames's checking their mark' wife, charming her with his smile and perfect references, Cobb's making some observation about the mark himself.

Ariadne has been sketching since the morning, drawing and making plans for the first layer of the Dream.

They decided to make the two layer Dream with the restaurant as first layer and a hospital as a second one. On both layers Eames will forge Coyle's wife, on second though he won't be alone with him. There'll be Cobb, playing the role of Mrs. Coyle's doctor.

Arthur takes the drawing from Ariadne's hand and check it.

"It's the painting on the wall.", he decides eventually. "Here", he points on exact place on the wall.

"How you make it?", Ariadne asks, obediently sketching the frame of pointing on her picture.

"What are you asking about?", Arthur asks in question, with one eyebrow raised.

"Remembering all the details.", Ariadne explains. "I mean, I'm studying the architecture it should be me, who remember such things."

"Envy?", Arthur asks smirking and gently touches her palm. Ariadne lets herself sink into the feeling of that. They're alone after all, not counting the security guys, of course. With closes eyes she feels something about Arthur changes.

"What's wrong?", she asks opening her eyes.

Arthur sighs. "It's hard to concentrate on work with you beside me.", he admits honestly. "And we need to be concentrate. This Coyle is only the first part, the easiest one. Kind of warm-up in fact."

"You don't want to throw me away once more.", Ariadne says with a hint of panic. She has the feeling that Arthur is the only thing that keeps her in one piece right now. Without him she would shatter within seconds.

"Ariadne!", he exclaims with true shock on his face." Don't even dare to think like that."

He puts his arms around her and before they realize what's happening all sketches are laying on the floor and Ariadne is sitting on the table.

She gasps feeling his lips on her neck. She briefly gets off his tie and the first button on his shirt is already undone, when Cobb walks into the room and freezes.

"Oh.", it's all he manages to say, before Eames storms into the room as well.

Ariadne feels she's blushing and Arthur avoids theirs gaze, while buttoning his shirt and taking his tie from the floor.

"So Ariadne made a couple of sketches for the first level.", Arthur announces and Eames starts to laugh.

"Really, Arthur, how did you find time for working?", he asks bemusedly.

"Give me pictures you're supposed to do.", snaps Arthur in answer. "They're necessary to make the model of this level."

The rest of the day Ariadne spends on sketching and constructing, Arthur writing with unnecessary force on his laptop and Eames looking at them and smirking.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: In this chapter finally we reach the point of serious Dreaming. As always a big smile for every reader, hope you'll like that chapter.**

„Arthur, can we run through first level once more?", Ariadne asks suddenly, in the middle of lunch, which causes a suspicious glare from Eames. Everything is planned for tomorrow and they've already practiced both levels a countless number of time. Yet, Arthur nods his head without the slightest hint of surprise or hesitance. If Ariadne wants to Dream this level before the job once more, Arthur will do it.

* * *

_Everything is exactly__ as it should be. The restaurant is warm and elegant, the delicate and delicious smell in the air, every single detail on its place._

"_It's amazing.", Ariadne sighs. "Every time you're the dreamer you put another element here. I can't imagine it can be more detailed than now."_

_Arthur smiles at her words, but his eyes remain serious. Ariadne stand turn back, staring at the restaurant's space. He gently puts his arms around her waist, once again surprised how easy it is. She leans her head on his chest, sighing._

"_What's happening?", he asks quietly. "You know I can't memorize it better than now."_

"_I just wanted to be alone with you, without anybody who could knocks in the door at any minute, asks some question or do anything like that.", Ariadne admits._

"_Eames finally gets on your nerves?", Arthur chuckles."He sometimes behaves like a child, that's pretty annoying."_

"_I was wondering if there was anything between you and him.", Ariadne says suddenly. She feels Arthur tenses._

"_Did he suggest something like that?", he asks hurriedly. _

"_No!", Ariadne denies quickly. "I just think, there could be something. Call it women' instinct or whatever."_

_Arthur lets her go and sighs._

"_There was nothing, even though Eames wanted something.", he admits with visible difficulty. "It wasn't easy time, though. It's not that I wanted to agree, but Eames saved my life that time and…", he waves his hand and shrugs._

_Ariadne realizes that she's the only one, beside who Arthur shows that sometimes even he doesn't know proper words to describe something._

"_It doesn't seem bad now.", she notices._

"_We just used to each other, I guess. Now it doesn't matter whatever Eames still wants something or not, that though doesn't freak me out."_

"_And why did you kick me out from your life after inception?", Ariadne asks all of sudden._

"_What's that is supposed to be?", Arthur turns to her with frown. "An interrogation?"_

"_No!", she protest fervently. "I just… I want to know you, really know you.__ I love you, but you're a mystery."_

_He takes a few steps and stands right in front of her. "Look at me. Ariadne, look at me."_

_She raises her huge eyes and glances at him quickly, before looking at one of the paintings at the room._

"_Why are you asking me that?", he asks, but his voice is gently._

_Ariadne looks at him briefly and walks away from him. She sits at the table they sat during their dinner in the real restaurant in the real world._

"_I'm scared.", she confesses, her voice barely above whisper. "I'm scared that I won't get chance to know you better before something happens."_

"_Ari.", he says softly and sits beside her._

_He won't give her any promises, he never does such things; the future is unknown and Arthur doesn't make promises he's not sure he can keep._

_The rest of the Dream they spend in silence._

* * *

"He's bloody heavy.", Eames mutters, dragging Coyle with Arthur's help.

They're in Physiotherapy Room , where Coyle spends three hours every week exercising and being massaging. It wasn't hard task to "convince" people working there to give them free hand in taking care of Coyle today.

When Coyle is laying safely on the floor, Yusuf opens the PASIV and looks around. The rest of the team is already sitting in various places.

"Everybody's ready?", he asks and everybody confirms that.

Nobody knows how Eames managed to convince the Chemist to take apart in this mission and Yusuf barely speaks to anybody. Still, he's present and promises to go into the field if needed.

When everyone has the needle in his wrist Yusuf presses the button and the world around them disappears.

* * *

_Arthur and Ariadne are sitting at the two-places table, his hand covering her.__ The restaurant is full of Coyle's projections and it's hard task to find Coyle himself at this crowd. Ariadne is the first to see him; he's sitting a couple of meters from them, the impatient expression on his face._

"_Where's Eames?", Ariadne asks anxiously, trying to look like nothing bothered her. "He was supposed to be sitting with Coyle!"_

_Arthur narrows his eyes but before he has a chance to spoke he catches the picture of a plump and elegant middle-aged woman._

_Coyle's wife or rather Eames as her._

_He leans forward Ariadne and gently brushes her cheek._

"_He's close.", he whispers softly. For every projection in this room it has to look like a lover's conversation._

_Eames walks slowly toward Coyle, the painful expression on his, or rather her, face._

"_Hello, John.", he says sighing ant carefully takes a seat beside him._

"_Sweetheart, the spine again?", Coyle reacts immediately. "I said you, you work too much."_

_Eames hides the smile. Coyle reacts perfectly, even better than they expected._

"_Oh, you know perfectly well that I can't!", he protest fervently, gesturing widely, like Coyle's wife used to do, before grimacing in pain and sighing once again.__ Coyle looks at him anxiously, but Eames avoids his gaze instead of that staring at the space._

"_Remember when we were working here together?", he asks, his voice filled with nostalgia._

_Coyle closes his eyes. "Of course I do.", he admits. "Sometimes I wish I wouldn't have to start working in the other business."_

_Eames catches Arthur's gaze and almost invisibly nods his head._

_Everything goes according to the plan._

"_Ari, we need to prepare.", Arthur murmurs and she feels a wave of fear._

"_So soon?__ How is that possible?", she reacts immediately, but obediently stands up and lets him lead herself through the restaurant._

_Somewhere in the middle they __run into Cobb, who plays a role of waiter. The drinks he's carries are spilled all over Ariadne, exactly as planned. It gives them the chance to disappear without making Coyle's projections suspicious._

"_This way, please, I'm so sorry.", Cobb repeats fervently, leading them into the safe room, Ariadne created. _

"_I almost missed the moment you stood up.", Cobb admits nervously. "I didn't expect it to be so soon."_

"_Neither we, but Eames made his sign.", Arthur explains and carefully takes the PASIV from a cabinet. He places it on low table in the middle of room._

_Everything is ready, all they can do now is waiting for Eames who is supposed to bring their mark with him._

"_Arthur.", Ariadne starts, her voice slightly choked. Cobb turns back to them, giving them as much privacy as he can right now._

_Arthur stops her next words, kissing her hurriedly. "Everything will be fine.", he says firmly, his eyes calm and reassuring. In the same minute in the room steps Coyle, Eames behind him._

_Coyle freezes and tries to turns back, but that's too late; Eames briefly puts inject him a sedative and grabs him by arm, before man fells on the floor._

"_How?", Cobb asks shortly._

_Eames shrugs with smile. "All we need to do is convincing him to give back his part of company to Fisher. He already decided to five up this and help his wife."_

"_Excellent, now hurry.", Arthur reacts immediately. When everybody is already sitting, he presses the button._

* * *

_Ariadne looks around her; the interior is exactly how she designed. The typical consulting-room with white walls and tiles on the floor._

"_You can put your shirt on.", she hears Cobb and watches Eames as Coyle's wife buttoning dark-emerald shirt. Coyle is standing beside her, question in his eyes._

"_You need to slow down, Mrs. Coyle.", Cobb says firmly. "Make less things by herself."_

"_I decided to help Joanne.", Coyle announces briefly. "I won't let her run in this high-heels with tons of documents in the briefcase ever more."_

"_Wonderful, I'm glad to hear that.", Cobb answers immediately and looks quickly at Ariadne. _

_It's all in Eames's hands right now, he has to convince Coyle that giving his part of company back to Fisher is the best solution. _

_Coyle gently leads Eames into the corridor and Cobb and Ariadne stay alone. Ariadne glances at him anxiety clear in her huge eyes. In answer he brushes gently her cheek._

"_Eames mages that, don't worry.", he reassures her. "Now we just need to wait for a kick."_

* * *

_As soon as everybody in the safe room is asleep, Arthur slips from it and carefully closes the door._

_They decided it would be the best to act almost exactly like in Fisher Job._

_Yusuf will turn one music and Arthur will blow the safe room down._

_Nothing hard, considering he has done it so many times before._

_Arthur walks slowly through Coyle's projections, looking as innocent and invisible as he can. He needs to get himself safely to the basement._

_Suddenly he feels an intent stare at him; it feels like a laser on his back, ready to burn a whole in his body. He stifles the natural urge to look behind and check who's staring at him. It would just alarm projections even more._

_He doesn't change the pace of his steps, somewhere deep inside him hoping that it's just a coincidence; that projections are unaware of his presence. _

_Yet, the touch on his arm, gentle for now, proves him wrong. _

"_Yes?", Arthur turns immediately. "How can I help you?"_

_The projection, who puts his hand on his shoulder is a young woman with long and slightly curled dark hair. She resembles Ariadne in some weird, very disturbing way._

"_You shouldn't be here.", she says, her voice soft and distant. And then, out-of-nowhere, there's a knife in her delicate hand._

* * *

"_John, wait.", Eames says and heavily sits on the bench standing beside the corridor's wall. Coyle's projections, some of them dressed as medical staff, others like patients are passing by him. Coyle joins him hesitantly. _

"_Don't you want go home?", his voice is filled with surprise._

"_Of course I want, my dear. But firstly you need to answer my question.", Eames answers._

"_Which is?"_

"_Who will take over the company?", Eames asks without any sign of hesitance._

_Coyle frowns. "Why are you asking about it?"_

_Eames sighs and shifts his position with a grimace of pain. "I heard some rumors.", he admits. "That young Fisher is rather unhappy with all his previous actions, that it was a reaction of Maurice's death."_

_Coyle looks at him with thoughtful eyes and bites his upper lips. _

"_Maybe you should think about giving your part of the company back to him?", Eames suggests openly, deciding that Coyle's wife wouldn't use any deceitful methods to convince her husband._

_Coyle's reaction proves him right. "There's something in this idea.", he admits._

* * *

_Arthur's breath is rapid and his left side of the body is aching and bleeding._

_Yet, it doesn't matter; he managed to get to the basement and placed charges, so he'll be able to give others the kick._

_There're two problems though: he can't go back to the safe room and he needs to blow it right now as the door are slowly giving up under pressure of projections._

"_Hope, you convince him", he murmurs and presses the button on detonator._

* * *

Ariadne gasps feeling the whole room around her is moving. She wants to say something, ask Cobb what's happening, but she doesn't have time to do so.

She opens her eyes in chaotic world of free-falling and sounds of building crumpling down. Again, before she can react, she feels a sharp pain in her neck and darkness swallows her.

This time she wakes up in a peaceful quietness of physiotherapy room.

"Ariadne!", Yusuf knees down beside her chair. "What's happened? It's too soon!"

She is disoriented when she slowly gets up. "I don't know.", she admits slowly. "It seems Arthur gave us the kick sooner than we planned."

In this moment Arthur's eyes snap open and he's sits still for a tiniest moment before looking at Ariadne.

"It was supposed to be a nice, synchronized kick, not coming-out-of-the-dream-by-breaking-the-neck!", Eames complains loudly, massaging his nape and glaring at Arthur, who shrugs defensively.

"Projection get violent, I couldn't wait for Yusuf sign.", he explains calmly"

"It doesn't matter right now.", Cobb interrupts him quickly. "Eames do you think you successed?"

Eames grimaces. "No idea. But Coyle rather likes the idea, so there's a chance."

Arthur takes the PASIV and checks Coyle, who still lays limp on the chair.

"He should be asleep for another thirty minutes, but better don't press luck unnecessarily and get out of here.", he warns and takes Ariadne's hand. She obediently follows him, feeling strangely empty and exhausted after this job.

It wasn't tough, not only because of the fact that after Fisher Job hardly anything would seem to be hard. The problem lays elsewhere.

Arthur.

Ariadne couldn't stop thinking about him all the time in the second level of the Dream. It wasn't matter that there was no Limbo threat and being killed meant just waking up.

The picture of scares covering his body was too clear in her eyes.

She clenches his finger with enough force to make him look at her with anxiety. Yet, Ariadne doesn't him the chance to ask about anything.

"Just take me back, ok?", she whispers softly ad he nods his head.

They don't talk much during the drive. Cobb has a frown and he's staring intently through the car' window on passing people and buildings. Eames is smoking a cigarette and watching idly the smoke. Ariadne's head leans on the window frame, her eyes closes and Arthur forces down the urge to let the steering wheel free and embraces her. He glances at back mirror, the car, security guys are driving, right behind them.

"We could try to escape", Eames notices surprising everybody. Cobb turns back and glances over his shoulder at the car behind them.

"They're armed, that's certain.", he says warningly.

Arthur glances hurriedly at Ariadne, who stares at him with eyes wide opened, her body tense.

"No escaping.", he snaps flatly and Ariadne relaxes slightly, again resting her head on the window frame.

"Easy, darling.", Eames laughs. "It was just a suggestion.", he opens the window and throw out the cigarette.

Ariadne sighs when they reach the villa and its spectacular garden.

She almost run through the hall and up the stairs, Arthur follows hurriedly after her and catches her in front of their room door.

"Tell me, what's wrong.", he says firmly, closing the door behind them. She sits heavily on the bed and shrugs, her motion filled with such despair that makes Arthur feel a pang in his chest. He puts arms around her and kisses the nape of her neck.

"I'm so scared.", Ariadne whispers eventually. "That I'll lose you. Even today, when the risk was so low, I couldn't stop thinking about you and all this scares and…"

She stops, when Arthur puts his long finger on her lips. She so sure that now she'll listen a list of reassuring words that at first she can't catch the sense of his words.

"You what?", she frowns.

"I love you, Ariadne.", Arthur repeats patiently.

It makes her literally speechless and even more scared.

Because losing him now, when they're really together would be the worst thing in the world.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: It's already the longest story I've ever written and we're still far away from the end! It feels slightly strange:) All always thanks for those who reviewed/allerted/favorited.**

There's a problem hanging in the air. At first sight everything is as good as it can.

They performed the first inception successfully; they got a call from Fisher four day after their job with congratulations.

Yet, there's a problem.

The air is almost thick because of all the tension: even though the first from four planned inceptions is a pure success the other ones won't be so easy.

No matter how hard everybody in the team try, it's impossible to find out anything about one of their next marks. Even Arthur with all his accesses to the most mysterious and illegal sources of information can't pick up the pieces.

The woman, Caroline White, is an enigma.

Of course, they have all this basic information Fisher gave them, but that's definitely not enough even to perform Extraction, yet alone Inception.

The whole team focuses on finding anything about her and even Eames misses at first the strange tension between Arthur and Ariadne.

They don't show themselves too much physical affection in public, but that's nothing strange and it doesn't bother Eames at all. It's perfectly the way Arthur is and Ariadne also isn't the type to shag shamelessly in front of other people.

Yet, something in Ariadne's behavior at last catches Eames's eyes.

She acts like she's constantly afraid of something. Something clearly connected with Arthur.

As soon as Eames realizes that, he sees more things: worried looks sent toward Arthur when he's not looking. A slight tremble of hand, when they go under, trying to design a maze for White.

He's almost not surprised at all, when he meets her sitting alone in the living room at 2 am.

She's crumpled on the couch, nestling to the pillow.

"Ariadne.", Eames says as soft as he can, but it makes her jump slightly.

She looks at him, her eyes red and swollen. She is so fragile and vulnerable that it hurts Eames deeply. He sits beside her and gently takes her small hand in his. There's anger in him, ready to blow and he forces it down, desperate to discover what lays behind Ariadne's strange behavior.

"What's wrong?, he asks quietly. "Tell me.", he adds seeing that she avoids looking at him. "Did Arthur do something?", he presses.

That finally tears Ariadne from her strange state.

"No!", she protest fervently. "It's not him. It's me."

"You?", Eames scans her face for explanation of any sort and sees there're tears forming in her eyes.

"He's covered with scars.", she says quietly. "And every time I see them I can't stop thinking that I can lose him so easily, within seconds. I want to be with him every day, every hour and…", she stops herself, suddenly alarmed.

Eames glances at her with question in his grey eyes, but she relaxes slightly. "I thought I heard steps.", she explains. " I don't want to worry him.", she continues. "But Arthur can easily notices every detail, so I sort of run away, I guess."

Eames sighs heavily, rubbing gently her tiny hand. "You should talk about it with Arthur."

Ariadne takes her hand from his warm grip. "It doesn't change anything.", she says flatly. "There's no promise which could calm down my fears."

"Maybe not.", Eames agrees. "But you should remember Arthur doesn't gives promises he can't fulfill."

Ariadne raises her head and looks at him with frown. Before she speaks Eames grabs her firmly and helps standing up.

"And now you're coming back to bed, no complains.", he commands.

When Ariadne comes back to the bed Arthur stifles the urge to embrace her and makes some stupid promise. He was aware that there's something wrong with her for last couple of days and when he woke up in empty bed he immediately started looking for her.

Seeing her with Eames, sitting on the couch together made him a little jealous, even if only for a second. As soon as he heard her words, the jealousness disappeared; all this things Ariadne said made him feel confused and unsure.

Now he's laying on their bed, Ariadne crumpled beside him, her breath slightly uneven as because of stifles crying and he hates himself.

For being the reason Ariadne's crying and feeling scared.

For letting Cobb hire this petite architect.

And mostly for falling in love with her.

He shifts his position and feels Ariadne stir as well. Within seconds they're so close to each other that clasping her would be the easiest thing on the world.

Yet, he doesn't do that.

Ariadne lays still, feeling the heat Arthur's body is radiating. It surprised her at first, she remembers that clearly: how man so cold could produce such warmth?

But the feeling of him beside her was something that reassured her.

Now it scares her; because she knows how easily this reassurance could be taken from her.

It's not that Ariadne doesn't believe in Arthur's ability to take care of himself.

The point is that she knows how eagerly he can give himself away in order to protect someone else.

It came to her in sudden realization, when she picked up all the pieces: why Arthur wanted to drive with Cobol men just after Inception. Why he didn't want to be with her at first. And how he managed to wake up without the kick after Coyle Job.

Ariadne knows that death in Dream world doesn't have any physical effects. It doesn't change the fact that it's not easy to used to being killed, or, in the worst case, killing himself.

She's also very well aware of the fact Arthur hates dying in Dreams; there's always this tiniest moment of stillness in him after being killed.

Yet, he willingly sacrifices himself in Dreams. The possibility that he'll do the same thing in real world is horribly high.

And in the most possible script he's dying for her.

* * *

Eames scans the surroundings carefully. He and Arthur are sitting in the car, parked outside of the beauty parlour, where Caroline White is having her hair dyed. One of the security guys, who Eames learned to doesn't pay attention to, is sitting in the car parked next to their.

It's not safe to follow your future mark, especially in person, but don't have the choice; they desperately need to find out more about her and observing her is their only chance.

"She could have some sort of fight training.", Eames notices, flipping through the notes he's done earlier.

Arthur doesn't react, staring idly into the space in front of the space.

"I said that she could have a fight training.", Eames repeats impatiently and waves one sheet of papers in front of Arthur's face. It works: Arthur looks at him with clear disbelief in his brown eyes.

"Ariadne?", he asks with curiosity. "No way."

Eames rolls his eyes, wondering if he should start laughing or rather crying. Torn between this options he chooses to simply stay calm.

"No, not Ariadne. White, our next mark, remember?"

Arthur rubs his temple, as always when he's confused and unsure of himself. Eames waits in silence, he knows that every word of encouragement in Arthur' case could only destroy the moment.

"It feels terribly to be the reason of her unhappiness.", he says eventually, which causes Eames to choke on his own saliva.

"Bloody hell!", he exclaims in horror. "Sorry to say so, but your stupidity in situation, when emotions are considered will make some day die. You're NOT the reason of Ariadne's unhappiness. She's lost: circumstances forces her to swim in deep water, while she should still splashing in the paddling pool!"

Arthur raises one eyebrow. "Your ability to create impressive metaphors is well-known to me.", he notices coldly. "But Ariadne's crying because of me."

"Arthur!", Eames snaps in irritation. "You heard our talk from the night before, so don't say such bullshits. She needs you right now, she'll shatter into pieces without you, so put away all your doubts and help her."

Arthur doesn't get the chance to protest, as White comes out with new-dyed hair.

They're short and shockingly red, lose freely on her cheeks. She touches them up with one hurry gesture.

According to information Fisher gave them she's almost forty five, but she is the type of woman, who looks the same in the age of thirty and fifty.

She's slim, almost skinny, sharp and vigilant.

She would be a problem even they have more information about her.

Under current circumstances she's the worst possible mark, they could think of.

Arthur starts the engine and slowly joins another cars driving on the street. It's not a hard task for him: both he and Eames are well-trained in following without being seen, so his mind is free.

Expectedly all he can focus on right now is Ariadne.

Her beautiful, huge eyes, now filled with fear, he can picture them in his mind within seconds. The soft voice of her, usually so sure, now full of doubts. Her body, so lean and warm, now distant and reluctant.

_I need to speak her,_ he realizes and in this second he feels that suddenly somebody grabs the steering wheel and turns it rapidly.

"Fuck you!", Eames yells. "Focus on the bloody road!"

Arthur blinks and realizes that if not Eames's reflex they would crush with a lorry.

"Just keep driving until the first car park.", Eames commands sternly and Arthur quietly obeys. They stops a couple of meters further, the car driven by security guy beside them.

"Get out of the car.", Eames voice is filled with anger.

They changes their seats and Arthur spends the rest of the day in relatively silence, only answering at Eames's rare question.

He feels torn apart.

Love and responsibility.

It was always responsibility what went first, in his entire life.

Now he broke this rule and effects of that are eating him alive.

"You're right.", he says when Eames's parking in front of the villa.

Eames glances at him crossly. "In what exactly?"

"I'm stupid.", Arthur answers with sigh, which seems to finally tear Eames from his anger. He shakes his head and pats Arthur's shoulder lightly indicating toward Ariadne, who sits on the garden chair.

She raises her head, when Arthur comes closer. There's a tiny smile on her face, but it doesn't entirely reaches her eyes. Arthur hesitates for a second, before sitting on the grass beside her and putting his head on her knees. It feels strangely comfortable, despite of the strangeness of this position.

Ariadne starts to laugh and then leans down and kisses his temple.

The weight on her knees makes her feel lighter. She takes deep breath, which tackles Arthur's cheek. He raises his head and looks intently into her eyes.

"When all this ends, I'll buy you a ring much more beautiful than the one you need to wear in restaurant.", he says softly, but with a firm tone.

Ariadne gently brushes his cheek with her soft fingers. "Is that a promise?", she whispers, barely audibly.

The way he kisses her tells her everything.

So she kisses him back, with all her force and passion.

* * *

"Shouldn't we concentrate on one person in one time?", Ariadne asks reluctantly, eying suspiciously a horses standing in front of her.

"We are concentrating, Ariadne.", Arthur answers patiently. "But it's already decided that in our next job the first level will consist horses, you know that perfectly."

Ariadne tilts her head, not taking her eyes away from the horse.

"I know, I know.", she snaps in answer. "I know it's the only place both our marks are meeting with each other every week. But I still don't understand why I have to ride it.", she gestures at looking perfectly harmless horses.

"You needed to see stud's buildings, that's the main reason, why we're here. The second one is that we probably need to ride a horse on this first level.", Arthur explains calmly, the hint of smile in his eyes. "And after performing inception on White there won't be time for horse riding lessons."

Ariadne looks around, finally taking her eyes from horses. "Who will teach us anyway?", she enquires.

Arthur smirks. "Not us. You."

Ariadne frowns with disbelief. "Don't say you know how to ride it!"

Arthur laughs openly. There's a hint of guilt inside him; Cobb, Eames and Yusuf are working at White job right now. Yet, he knows nobody will complain: both Ariadne and him needed a little break.

"It's not that hard, nothing to be afraid of.", he reassures Ariadne, who looks with horror at him.

"I'm not scared.", she protest fervently and comes closer to horses. Arthur follows her immediately.

"This one is for you.", he says. "Let me help you get on it."

Ariadne obeys with smile.

* * *

Cobb is tapping his fingers on the table top, while reading through the notes all of them made about Caroline White. Eventually, he closes the laptop with unnecessary force. Eames grimaces at that.

"It's not enough!", Cobb blows with frustration. "It wouldn't be possible even to extract anything from her, yet alone incept her!"

Eames rolls his eyes and says nothing. Cobb is furious since they started working on White and nothing can calm him down.

"And you still don't have anybody to forge, do you?", Dom asks angrily.

"In fact there's somebody.", Eames livens up. "Her hairdresser. It's risky, but that's the only person."

Eames's words visibly calm down Cobb.

"You need any more time to observe him?"

Eames shrugs. "Nope, I've already know everything."

It stops Dom. "So we need to put this beauty parlor as the second level.", he decides quickly.

Ariadne, with a little help of Cobb, already built all three levels; they're as neutral as is possible, but under this new circumstances they have to change their plans.

"Call Ariadne, we need to start building this new level right now.", Cobb says hurriedly and grabs his sketchbook from the table.

Eames picks up the phone with sigh.

It's strangely hard to spoil Ariadne and Arthur their happy moments.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: And here's next chapter. Review are much appreciated:) And, of course, thanks for your various kind of responses:)**

Yusuf sighs, looking at all test-tubes laying on the table. From the first day he arrived he's been trying to create sedative, which can be used to in three-layers Dream, without the threat of Limbo.

He soon finds out that it's most probably impossible.

Of course, he has something new and there's a small chance it would work properly. The only problem it can't be said for sure without making tests.

And how make tests without guinea-pigs?

Yusuf runs a hand through hair with worried expression. He hates the idea of coming under again, especially with this crazy people.

Is not that Yusuf is a coward; no, he's like most people of the world: he doesn't like to risk without a good reason.

The truth is he quite liked the rush of adrenaline that accompanied the Fisher Job. Still, he doesn't like the idea of doing such things again, especially three times, one after another. He blessed the fact, he hadn't to Dream while they worked on Coyle case.

The atmosphere of all this situation makes him feel even more uneasy. Even though he doesn't say anything, he sees things; the silence grief of Cobb. Love mixed with doubts between Ariadne and Arthur. And Eames's reluctance to the next job. The knowledge of how hard it probably will be doesn't help at all.

"Yusuf?", the quiet and unsure, but sweet voice of the only woman in the team tears him out of his reverie. He's slightly surprised by her presence: they don't have much in common and he definitely doesn't expect her to visit his small lab.

"Yes?", he asks with polite smile.

"I just wanted to see how things are going.", Ariadne responses immediately and shifts from one foot to the other. Yusuf looks at her carefully.

She doesn't look so hunted, not since Arthur took her for lesson in riding horses. It's pretty obvious that they explained the most important issues during that. In her bright eyes Yusuf can see again mischievous twinkles and sparks of her natural curiosity. It pleases him, he likes the petite architect, even though he'd rather not be the subject of her interests.

Ariadne places herself on the stool beside the table and observes Yusuf intently.

"Is that possible to create anything in such place? I mean, without lab and all those things you normally use.", she inquiries.

Yusuf sighs and puts down the laboratory vessel. "It's not easy and I don't have any objects I could make tests on."

Ariadne frowns. "And normally you runs your tests on..?"

"People.", Yusuf responses shortly.

It clearly takes Ariadne aback, but she quickly regains her composure and with slightly startled expression in her eyes she asks next questions.

"What exactly you need to check right now?"

"This new sedative should prevent from losing yourself in Limbo. Shortly speaking, after being killed in one of the layers you should be able to differ from the reality of Limbo and the real world, so it'll be easier to escape.", Yusuf explains lively.

Ariadne's eyes widens at his words. "It'd mean that you can escape from Limbo by yourself!", she exclaims.

"Hopefully, yes.", he answers modestly.

Ariadne takes a breath clearly wanting to add something more, when the door opens rapidly. Eames emerges the room with frown on his face.

"Come on, we have an emergency situation.", he says quickly and turns over before Ariadne has a chance to ask any question.

There're Cobb and Arthur sitting in the living room. As soon as they enters the room Arthur starts speaking.

'We all agreed to work on White, because the younger of Williams brothers was supposed to spend the rest of this month in States. But he changed planes and coming back next week."

"in this situation", Cobb continues smoothly. "We started to think if it's better to first perform inception on them, instead of White."

"But we have all the layers for White created!", Ariadne protests fervently. "All we have for them are vague plans."

Arthur glances at her in a weird way, like he want to apologize for something. Ariadne pauses and looks back at him, frowning. Cobb flashes one of his oh so rarely smiles toward her.

"We created most of it.", he admits. "It wasn't a problem, since you made layers both for Coyle and White."

There's a short silence, broken by Yusuf. "So we change the order.", he decides firmly. Nobody protests, the possibility to delay working on White is temptating for everybody.

* * *

Ariadne vaguely wonders when she finally get the chance to go with Arthur for a dinner as his date, not co-worker. Not that she doesn't enjoy sitting with him in a fancy, but not too sophisticated restaurant and seeing warm twinkles in his dark eyes.

They wait for a younger Williams brother to come; he made the reservation as soon, as he came back from States. They suspect he'll meet with someone important for him, a person, who, maybe, could be use to forge.

Eames shifts his position and looks around with boredom. He's sitting not far away from them, with two security guys; for everybody it must look like a business meeting. Ariadne hides her sudden smile: according to the original plan Eames should be sitting with her, playing her fiancé. Yet, Arthur's refuse was impossible to reject and Ariadne has to admit she doesn't mind it all. No matter how much she likes Eames Arthur is… well, Arthur.

"There…", Arthur's voice tears her from her reverie and makes her rigid. His tone clearly says that something must go wrong. She follows his gaze and sees a man, she saw many times on photographs before. He's in his early forties, very male and handsome. But he's not who Arthur is looking at. He stares at woman, who came with Williams. She younger than him, dark-haired and beautiful.

Ariadne frowns and touches Arthur's hand. The tension of him makes her uneasy, she has never seen him like that, not even in the worst moments of Fisher Job.

"Arthur?", she starts, but in the same moment the dark-haired woman seems to finally feel the intensity of Arthur's gaze. She glances toward them and immediately breaks into the smile. She's beside their table in few quick and graceful steps, which makes Ariadne feel clumsy. Through the mist of her confusion she notices Arthur stands up and hears how a happy exclamation from the woman mixes with Arthur's question. The only clear thing is a name. Kathy.

She winces when _Kathy_ pays attention to her. She can feel Arthur's reluctance, when he introduces her shortly and with disbelief she watches how this Kathy kisses Arthur's cheek and whispers a couple of words into his ear.

"Excuse me for a moment.", Ariadne announces coldly and takes her bag. She can say that Eames goes after her, when she heads for toilets.

"Who is she?", she hisses as soon as they're outside ear-shot.

The expression on Eames's face is enough as an answer, but even though he shakes his head and seems to forces down some words.

"Did Williams see you?", he asks instead.

Ariadne tries to focus and finale shakes her head. "I'm sure he saw me, but I don't think he will remember me. He was focused on Arthur.", there's a bitter note in her voice.

Arthur follows Ariadne with his gaze, before focusing again on Kathy. She has one eyebrow raised and pure curiosity in her dark eyes.

"She doesn't feel too well today.", Arthur explains with sigh. "I'll better check her.", he adds with apologizing smile and comes after Ariadne.

He quickly steps down the stairs and sees both Ariadne and Eames standing beside the toilet's door.

"Ariadne?", he says quietly and she turns over. The expression on her face makes Arthur freeze in the place. She looks like she would start biting any moment soon.

"You can't stand here…", he begins, but Ariadne interrupts him.

"Who is she?", she demands firmly.

Arthur blinks. "Kathy is my sister.", he answers, slightly confused.

Ariadne's reaction surprises him: she slaps him and in the next second gives him a chaste kiss. It's Eames who reacts first.

"What did you say your sister?", he asks.

"That Ariadne doesn't feel well tonight.", Arthur answers immediately. "Eames you'll go back upstairs and Ariadne and me will simply leave. The damage is done, but we can prevent it from going any further."

Eames nods his head and quickly goes upstairs. As soon as he disappears Arthur and Ariadne leaves the restaurant.

They climb into the car, which is parked in front of restaurant with one of a security guy as a driver. He eyes them suspiciously but doesn't say a word and starts the engine.

Both of them know that their meeting doesn't make the whole situation easier.

Ariadne is perfectly aware that under the usual mask of calmness Arthur's full of emotion. So she sits silent and still beside him, knowing perfectly that her lightest touch can cause all this emotion flows.

When they enter the house Arthur immediately goes upstairs, blind to Cobb curious and worry gaze.

"Ariadne? What happened?", Dom demands seeing that Ariadne wants to follow Arthur. She stops and sighs.

"I'm not sure by myself. It seems that Williams brings with himself Arthur's sister.", she says hurriedly and leaves Cobb with confused expression on his face.

She finds Arthur's sitting on the bed. He raises his head, hearing her steps and makes a welcome gesture. Ariadne sits beside him and he leans his head on her arm.

"What should I do?", he asks and for the first time ever Ariadne knows he's lost, without any clear or even vague idea what to do.

"Do you think she loves him?", Ariadne responses with question and feels he takes his head from her shoulder.

"That's the problem.", she hears him answering. "Kathy would never go across the half of the world with man she doesn't love."

Ariadne gulps. She can't imagine herself in situation like this; it's like Greek drama dilemma, with no good way of solving.

"Arthur..", she starts but he cuts her with a finger on her lips.

"Kathy doesn't know what kind of work I'm exactly doing. She's aware it's something not strictly speaking legal, but details are missing for her. It means she won't tell anything Williams, at least nothing that could alarm him.", his voice is calm and emotionless and Ariadne's heart sink. She wishes, she could do something, anything to save him from making such hard decisions.

She embraces him tightly, even though it can't be comfort him too much right now. Still, Arthur responses for her touch, leaning on her, as she could hide him from the problems.

It's strange feeling; until now Arthur was always the one to comfort and she was the one looking for help.

They sit motionless, silent, the only sounds accompanying them are beating of hearts and even breaths.

And nobody tries to bother them.

* * *

There's an awkward silence during the breakfast. It seems nobody knows what do to and Arthur doesn't hurry to clear his decision.

He finally breaks the silence, though.

"They'll be riding horses this Sunday.", he says and Ariadne sees Cobb exhales deeply.

Arthur's words give the sign to work.

They still have so much to do, that it seems almost impossible to finish everything until Sunday comes.

Cobb is working on last details of every layer, while teaching others the layout. Arthur spends almost every minute in Dreams now: he'll be the dreamer for the third layer, the most important and most detailed one.

Williams brothers family house.

None of the whole team members sleep much right now, but it seems that Arthur is avoiding the possibility to rest, even for the shortest amount of time. Ariadne decides to leave that alone; there's too many things that can go wrong that adding any more complications would be the worst possible idea.

It's Saturday evening when she finds herself sitting beside Arthur, who's Dreaming. It's the first free moment since they decided to work on Williams first and Ariadne feels completely exhausted, but unable to sleep.

There was enough nights without Arthur beside her last times. On the other hand she's sure Arthur won't sleep this night, at least not normally.

Ariadne hesitates just for a second before taking the needle in her hand. She did it before, after all.

* * *

_The layout of the Dream hits her. _

_It's not the Williams brother family house._

_In fact__ it's not any of layers created for their current Job._

_The view around her doesn't belong to any Dreams Arthur showed her before. It even doesn't look like something Arthur could create._

_A scene, where she is has nothing in common with usual modern and somewhat cold places, which are characteristic for Arthur. _

_It's a village._

_A small and peaceful village, with small and colorful cottages and cobbled streets._

_It's entirely European, that's sure for Ariadne, but there's nothing that could tell her in which country it is exactly. _

_Ariadne breathes deeply; she has never been in Arthur Dream like that before. She has never ever seen his projections. He was always the dreamer, never the subject._

"_Mademoiselle.", she hears suddenly and she turns back hurriedly. There's an older, bearded man standing behind her._

"_Yes?", she answers politely, with smile. She keeps remembering Arthur's advices: "If you feel nervous, try to hide it with smile. People usually answer to smile with smile, so it makes the tension smaller.". Ariadne hopes secretly that it works also with projections._

_Her eyes widen, when the older man takes an ugly looking knife from his coat pocket. _

_That's when someone grabs her strongly and puts aside._

"_Arthur?", she manages to stammer, feeling the familiar scent of his cologne. _

"_Shhh, stay calm and come on.", he orders and leads her hurriedly to a small and probably very old house. He closes the door carefully and finally focus his attention on Ariadne. _

"_Normally I would ask what are you doing here, but in your case is unnecessary. Your curiosity will kill you some day, Ariadne.", Arthur says and sits on a huge armchair. _

_Ariadne still can't recover from shock and looks at him with disbelief in her eyes._

"_You projection tried to kill me.", she says slowly. "He tried to kill the moment I enter the Dream! How is that possible? I did nothing to disturb him! Is that because I don't have your permission?"_

_Arthur sighs and shifts his position. "My projections are actually killing everybody, who enters my Dreams. No matter if with or without permission. I have to say the way you were treated was surprisingly gentle. Usually is a crowd, who just tears the guest apart.", his voice is steady, but Ariadne feels how hard is for Arthur to confess all this things._

_She takes the step toward him only to face a gun. _

"_My projections are coming.", Arthur says. "Forgive me, Ariadne."_

_The last thing Ariadne sees is pleading look in Arthur's dark eyes._


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: First of all I want to say that all your responses literally made my day. I was angry, but after reading them I had a huge smile on my face. Please, keep it up! As for this chapter: it turned to be much darker than I wanted it to be, but I hope it won't dissapoint you. Anyway: time to read and don't hesitate to share your opinion!**

Ariadne opens her eyes, gasping.

It's not the first time she died in Dream. Hell, it's not even the first time she has been killed by someone!

But it's the first time when her death was caused by person she loves and learned to trust.

She takes a single look on Arthur and something inside her flinches.

The gun barrel aiming her head.

And this familiar hand with long, slim fingers, holding it so firmly, without the slightest tremble.

She turns rapidly and rushes from the room.

This night she'll spend alone.

Ariadne is unusually quiet during their breakfast. She sits on her place, sipping coffee and slowly eating toasts, never raising her eyes to anyone at the table. Arthur, on the other hand, tries to look unbothered and for the first time ever his capability to regain calmness seems not working. It alarms Eames: all they need right before performing inception is a team member with life difficulties. He catches her as soon as they have finished eating. He doesn't even have to ask anything, it's Ariadne who speaks first.

"Have you ever been in Arthur's subconscious?"

Eames inhales sharply. "I see you had the unpleasantness of being torn apart by his projections.", he says dryly.

Ariadne frowns. "No, it was Arthur who killed me.", she admits slowly.

It surprises Eames, as far as he knows Arthur's projections can take care of everybody within seconds. In a really nasty way.

"Ariadne… You'll have plenty of time to think and talk after we finish our work, but right now I need you to be focused. And please, act normally with Arthur, we can't afford to having him distracted."

Ariadne agrees with Eames with nothing more than a nod of her head. Eames suppose it's everything he can request from her now.

They're riding to the stud farm in two cars; Arthur have chosen for Ariadne and himself an old and classic Porsche, which should give a topic to conversation with Williams. The older one loves old cars.

The rest of the team travel in a huge black van, when they'll go under.

"Ariadne?", Arthur starts as soon as they start driving. Ariadne looks at him, noticing the desperate catch on the steering-wheel. His fingers whiten because of it.

"I don't want to think about it and I definitely don't want to speak about it. ", Ariadne responses quietly. "Right now we need to be nothing but professional."

"Right.", Arthur agrees barely above the whisper.

It's not hard to notice their marks: brothers are standing with saddled horses, ready to leave. It's not how it was supposed to be: they should be sitting and drinking tea right now. Ariadne sees Arthur tenses for a tiniest part of time, before he heads for them.

"Morning.", he says in a happy tone. "I believe we almost met before.", he adds quickly, seeing surprise in younger Williams eyes.

Ariadne isn't able to react for a moment. It takes her a minute to realize that Arthur is improvising and he's using every possible advantage to gain Williams' trust.

"Almost?", the younger one repeats.

"Yes, a couple of days ago, in the restaurant…", Arthur's voice falters, giving Williams a chance to interrupt.

"You must be Kathy's brother!", he exclaims happily. "What a coincidence! I really wanted to speak with you, but you disappeared."

In this moment Ariadne decides she should appear and goes closer to them. Arthur immediately takes her elbow with smile.

"Unfortunately yes, because of this beautiful woman. Marie didn't feel well that evening.", he explains. Ariadne reaches her hand with smile and blinks when Williams kisses it.

"It's a pleasure.", he says and Ariadne feels a knot in her stomach tighten. Arthur seems to notice her uneasiness.

"We're stopping you, aren't we?", he says and takes a step back. Williams seems to hesitate for a second.

"Fancy joining us?", he finally says, glancing quickly on his older brother.

Huge smile on Arthur's face is enough as an answer and Ariadne vaguely wonder why she hadn't noticed how brilliant actor he is.

"With pleasure.", she says, when both brothers look at her.

It's not long after that, when Ariadne is sitting on the horse and pretend she has everything under control. No matter how hard Arthur tried is not possible to learn somebody how to ride a horse within couple of hours.

Luckily is Arthur, who gives the pace, so Ariadne has the chance not to falling down.

Ariadne is amazed how smooth the first part of their plan is going; Arthur is so charming that they have no troubles to lead their marks into the appointed spot.

Within minutes they're done: both their marks are laying limply on the car' seats, the Pasiv humming quietly, ready to use. Now it's just a matter of seconds when they'll under.

Ariadne clutches her fists before sitting on her place, Arthur beside her. She feels the brush of his fingers, so light that she's not sure if it's real.

She doesn't get the chance to ask; her eyes close.

* * *

_Luckily after opening her eyes Ariadne doesn't find herself sitting on the horse. No, she's standing on the firm ground, in addition supported with Arthur's strong arms. __She looks over his shoulder and finds their marks standing beside them, expressions of pure admiration on their faces._

_It's not strange, considering the beauty of landscape Cobb has created for this layer. __Still, the rush of adrenaline doesn't allow Ariadne to admire anything right now._

_She feels Arthur's mouth oh so close to her ear and freezes. The touch of him can't compared with anything, but Ariadne doesn't need any more distraction for now. _

"_It's amazing, isn't it?", she says and untangled herself from Arthur's hand. He lets her go very reluctantly and it startles her; it's not normal for Arthur to act like that during the job. _

"_I wasn't even aware that we have something like that in our country.", the older from brothers, Michael, says. Ariadne stifles the urge to enlighten him that actually they don't._

_She feels the burning gaze of Arthur's eyes on her back, when she climbs on the horse. Men follow her example and Ariadne relies the breath she was holding. _

_Still everything goes according to the plan. _

_Even though she is prepared to the next happenings, she can't stifles the flinch, when Eames stops them. He's holding a gun and he points it on the younger from brothers. His eyes are dangerously narrowed, when he looks on them, measuring every single person. _

"_From horses, now.", he commands and Ariadne again realizes with how dangerous people she's working now. It's easy to forget about it while shar__ing with them a morning coffee or frying a scrambled eggs for them. _

_She jumps off the horse, feeling Arthur's doing the same. Both brothers follow them hesitantly, disbelief all over their faces._

_Eames smirk, but it's not his usual infuriating smile; this one has a dangerous note, telling everyone it's better not to begin with this well-build man._

_She feels Arthur behind her and leans toward him; it's planned, most women would look for safety in such way. Yet, in Ariadne case she doesn't have to play, she really wants to be close to Arthur. _

_Cobb appears in front of them, wearing the same expression as Eames._

"_What do you want?", the younger Williams, Christopher, demands._

"_Heard you're pretty important.", Eames drawls in answer taking a few steps toward Ariadne and Arthur. Ariadne tries to looks completely horrified when Eames touches her cheek and chuckles. _

"_Woman, a beautiful woman.", he states. "Seems we're lucky. Into the car, now.", he commands sharply and points with gun this time on the oldest of brothers. _

_He notices Williams tenses and raises his eyebrow. "One unnecessary movement and she'll die.", he warns, aiming at Ariadne. She gasps._

_Of course, it's nothing more than a play, but the picture of Arthur doing the same is still to fresh in her mind. Arthur seems to realize her feelings as he covers her with the own body. The silent agreement passes from him to Eames. _

_The hint looks dramatically, as it landed on the one of the most vesseled parts of human body: the temple. _

_The blood starts pouring immediately and Eames grimaces. He hopes he didn't hit too hard, but in the same time is angry that Arthur played this trick._

_Even though it makes both Arthur and Ariadne more reliable in Williams brothers eyes._

_He sees Ariadne freezes, completely unable to react. He doesn't give her the chance to blow and with Cobb's help shoves her in the back of the van. The rest of prisoners join her quickly. _

_As soon as Arthur is beside Ariadne, she needs to stifle the urge to cry aloud. She's aware that they have to be trustful in Williams eyes, but it's so hard to look at Arthur's blood. _

_Christopher Williams gives her his handkerchief with sheepish smile. _

_She takes it with grateful look and gently put it against Arthur's bleeding temple. _

_Is Arthur, who breaks the heavy silence._

"_They kidnapped us!", he almost yell, which makes Ariadne flinch. "What's happening here, why are you important?"_

_Michael Williams shakes his head in frustration. "We have no idea, both of us are in charge in companies, but…", his voice falters, wh__en looks at his younger brother, who's pale._

"_You're here because you take a ride with us.", he says quietly, staring at Ariadne and Arthur. He looks so lost that Ariadne clutches her fists until she feels her nails digging into skin._

_She wishes she could say something, prove him wrong, but her loyalty to her friends is bigger than that._

_She can't fail them._

"_You couldn't know.", she stammer and hears Arthur cursing quietly, when the van jump on a bump. She takes a quick look at him: the temple is still bleeding, albeit slower._

"_Are you ok?", she says, sounding much more vulnerable than she wanted to. _

"_Yes, it's just a scratch.", he reassures her immediately._

"_They want money.", the older Williams says firmly. _

"_I told you that accepting Fisher offer will bring nothing more but problems.", his younger brother interrupts suddenly. Ariadne feels Arthur tenses beside her; that's their great chance._

"_We're here, with two accident persons because of that!", Christopher continues, his voice dangerously raised. "Fuck, like we couldn't just stay low…"_

_Ariadne observes them with wide eyes._

"_What do you mean?", she asks, hoping that she sounds enough despair. _

"_What I mean?", Christopher snaps angrily. "I mean that because of this fucking companies we can lose our lives!"_

_Ariadne curls instinctively, but Christopher doesn't get the chance to continue, as Eames yells at them angrily from the driver cab to shut up._

_The silence is even heavier than at the beginning of the journey, but this time nobody tries to speak._

_Both Arthur and Ariadne knows there's no need for that._

_The first grain has been sowed. _

_Now they need to wait and see what happens next._

_The atmosphere is so filled with fear and despair that Ariadne unwillingly starts to feel uneasiness. A quick glance on Arthur doesn't smooth her nerves._

_Expression on his face is grim and concerned__ and Ariadne is sure she knows what he's thinking about._

_His sister._

_It still sounds strange in Ariadne's ears; Arthur has an older sister and if not this strange coincidence she could never find out about her._

_Her thoughts are interrupted, when the car suddenly stops. The door are opened__ rapidly and Ariadne sees Cobb._

"_You.", he gestures toward Ariadne. "Come on."_

_Ariadne freezes. It's not planned and she's not sure how she should react. Then she feels the lightest touch on her back, which has to mean: "Go."_

_Ariadne hesitantly gets off the car, while Eames is aiming at Arthur with his gun._

_Then the door are closed again and Ariadne inhales sharply._

"_Quick.", Eames grabs her and leads further from the car. She tears herself out from his grip._

"_What are you doing?", she snaps angrily._

"_Fulfilling the promise I gave Arthur.", Eames answers with sigh._

_Ariadne blinks in disbelief. "What kind of promise?"_

_It's Cobb who answers the question. "Listen, Ariadne. You know that we couldn't find anything connected with positive emotions, right?"_

_Ariadne slowly nods her head. "Of course. This kidnapping is the first step that should make them hate their current work. Anyway, the job is partially done, they really don't like it, at least the youngest one."_

"_Exactly.", Eames says. "But we need something more and death of young and beautiful fiancée of the innocent man, who's been kidnapped by accident…"_

_Ariadne gasps. She has never thought that they'll be so cruel while working._

_Cobb leans to her and brushes her arm. "Arthur didn't want you to be right in the middle of it.", he says quietly. "Can you scream?"_

_Ariadne feels that she's on the edge of crying, but even though nods her head._

_She starts screaming at Eames sign and flinches involuntary when he fires into the sky. She hears a scream, almost a howl coming from the car and for the moment she feels like Arthur really doesn't know what's going on._

_It's a soft touch of Eames' fingers, which wakes her up._

"_It's just a Dream, remember about it.", he says gently and leads her to the car._

_Arthur finds screaming surprisingly easy. All he needs to do is just imaging that the situation is real and somebody's really shooting to Ariadne and the yell escapes his throat._

_He feels that one of brothers grabs him tightly and hears a stifles sob. _

"_I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry.", the older Williams is whispering and Arthur closes his eyes._

_They have never gone so far._

_Neither of their jobs lead them on a path of such cruelty and it's amazingly hard to watch those two men feeling so guilty._

_Luckily it's a Dream._

_And now it's time to begin the second part of their plan. _


	14. Chapter 14

**_A/N: I'm really happy because of your responses. The moment I've reached 30 reviews was really a good one:D So, as always, don't hesitate to leave your opinion, all of them give the courage to write further chapters and help in making this story better._**

**_I completely forgot about disclaimers last times so: I do NOT own Inception or its characters. Even though I do own a new and shiny Inception blu-ray:D_**

**_Hope you'll enjoy!_**

_Only thing that breaks the silence is the sound of working engine._

_Arthur sits with his arms around knees in the corner of the car. He looks lost and broken and, surprisingly, it's not only his talent to play, which makes him looks so._

_He knows, perfectly well, that this time they crossed a line._

_This job is completely different than the previous ones, even the Fisher Job._

_They never tried to make somebody feel a guilt, guilt big enough to change the whole life. Using such tricks seemed bad, inhuman even. _

_And yet now they're using it._

_And it goes smoothly, Arthur has to admit that: both brothers seem to be broken._

_It's definitely time for a second layer and Arthur sighs in relief when the car stops again._

_This time all of them are forced out of the car. However, this time nothing goes as easily as in the real world. Eames gets a kick from Christopher Williams and Cobb needs to use the butt of his gun__ to survive the skirmish with the oldest Williams. When they finally regain control of the situation Eames spits blood and Cobb is massaging his left wrist with a painful expression._

_Ariadne reluctantly gets off the car and joins the rest of the team__._

_No matter how she hates it, they need to continue. _

_The familiar sensation of sedative in her veins she greets with relief; at least it means they no longer play "the kidnapping play"._

* * *

_She opens her eyes feeling the strong and characteristic smell of hospitals. It seems they're doomed to creating levels of Dreams as hospitals of various kind._

_Ariadne stays motionless for a second. She knows perfectly that the nightmare she agreed to participate in haven't ended on the first level, but this time she isn't supposed to directly take part in it._

_She hears footsteps behind her and manages not to turn over rapidly. That's most probably a projections and making them suspicious is the last thing she want to do right now._

_She tenses on the sudden touch only to realize it's Cobb, who brushes gently her shoulder._

"_Come on, you, as the dreamer, can't stand so openly in the middle of corridor.", he says quietly and Ariadne feels stupid: how could she behave so carelessly?_

_Arthur leans on the wall, right now he has nothing to do, he needs to wait._

_Eames is laying on the hospital bed, whishing he'd somewhere else._

_He forged many people in various kinds of situation, but forging an old woman with death sentence of lethal disease on her head._

_The worst thing they couldn't find any other way: on the paper this mix of guilt and hope to have dreams come true looked good and Eames is longer sure if they should have been trying it._

_Not with both Williams sitting beside his bed._

_And definitely not with this complete emptiness in his mind._

_Arthur shifts his position. He knows he should be focused on the job, but it's extremely hard to stop thinking about the look in Ariadne's eyes._

_She is clearly terrified by they're doing, even though she mostly knew the plan before this mission started._

_The involuntary sigh escapes his throat and he misses the moment Williams brother leave the room. Luckily, the sound of footsteps alarms him and he raises his head, looking at them intently. Both brothers notice him, while passing by him and it's the younger one, who stops._

"_Do we know each other?", he asks hesitantly._

_Arthur blinks and then nods his head. "I think so.", he answers reluctantly, although deep inside he's glad. The old trick turns to be useful once again; it was Mal, who taught him that is possible to convince somebody that you're his forgotten friend with one gaze. Surprisingly, Cobb never managed to learn it, Mal always laughed that nobody would trust a stranger with such face._

_Arthur observes Christopher Williams__, waiting if Christopher will find a proper identify by himself, or he'll need a little help from Arthur. _

"_You lived in neighborhood, didn't you?", younger Williams finally asks, frowning. _

"_Yes.", Arthur nods his head. "I was the little one, with longer hair.", he adds with a sad smile. luckily he found a photo taken in early childhood of younger Williams, which shows all his friends from backyard. _

_Christopher smiles, but then realizes where they're right now and becomes serious once again. _

"_Have you somebody here?", he asks with sympathy. _

_Arthur shakes his head and hesitates a moment before answering. "No… In fact I'm a patient."_

_The expression on both brothers faces tells him that Eames played his part of dying mother perfectly. All Arthur needs to do know is to take them to the hospital café and have a talk._

_Hopefully, he'll be convincing enough. _

"_Funny thing, I thought about you last time.", he starts with a shade of smile. The oldest from brothers looks at him, frowning, with a question in his eyes._

"_I reached the point, when I have enough time for thinking about the past.", Arthur explains, thanking in his soul for Mal. Without all her wistful advices he could never been such a good actor."And I realized that Christopher wanted to became a famous swimmer and I even checked if he actually managed it…", his voice falters, giving Christopher the chance to react._

"_Well, not everything went as planned.", he says slowly._

* * *

_Ariadne opens the window, not longer able to feel this horrible smell. When she created this place, it didn't have such a smell. It seems that the older Williams fills this level not only with his projections but also memories of places like that._

_Ariadne shivers. She still feels dizzy after the first level, the guilt inside her huge and fresh. She hoped that one the second level she'd feel better, but here's even worse. _

_The whole building filled with projections suffering from lethal diseases._

_And somewhere among them is Eames forging a dying woman. That thought makes Ariadne even more nauseated. _

_She doesn't even try to think about Arthur._

_Not now._

_She's distracted enough. _

_There'll be plenty of time later._

"_Ariadne?", Cobb walks in with worried expression on his face. _

_His tone alarms her. "Yes?"_

"_We need to hurry, projections started to behave strangely. Could you give a sign Arthur? It'll probably look less suspicious…", Cobb answers, concern in his eyes._

"_Um. Yes, of course.", Ariadne says, feeling uneasy. _

_Angry projections aren't a good sign. _

_Especially for Cobb and Ariadne herself, who are staying in this level of Dream._

_As soon as she notices Arthur sitting with Williams brother in hospital café she realizes that she has no idea how she should call him. So, instead of calling him across the café, she comes close and gently pats his shoulder. __She avoids looking on both brothers, the picture of them from the first level of Dream too fresh. Arthur turns over immediately and freezes for a tiniest moment._

"_I'm sorry to interrupt, but I need to steal your companies.", Ariadne says with tender smile. "There's something doctor Snow would like to discuss with them."_

_Arthur nods his head in response. "I'll go too, I need to ask him about one thing. I'll wait on the corridor."_

_Soon both brothers, Cobb and Arthur are asleep. Eames is staying with Ariadne, as "body guard", due to anxious projections. Ariadne can't help but __feel relief. The vision of staying alone was almost unbearable._

_she takes a quick stare of Arthur and then turns her head._

_She has to wait._

* * *

_The space around him is filled with darkness and Arthur blinks, waiting his eyes to accustom to those condition. He holds his breath, when he hears a sudden creak of doors. It can be Cobb, but it's better to be safe than sorry: if projections started to act strangely on the second level is possible here could be the same. _

_His instinct doesn't fail him: in almost last second he avoids being cut in throat with knife. He manages to notice it only thanks to the moon light, shining through the window, but his movement is too late nevertheless. His mind explodes with the white light of pain, when the knife cuts through the suit and skin and reaches his ribs. __Next reactions come from his long training and soon the projection of young man in military outfit lays on the floor in the pool of own blood._

_Arthur stands up and curses silently, clutching the wounded side._

_He hopes Cobb is better than that._

_Luckily Cobb is definitely better: he finds the both subjects without being bothered by projections. He hesitates at the door frame, but seeing a projection heading his way he decidedly enters the room. Christopher Williams looks at him and frowns._

"_This house needs renovation, yet it still can be sold for a decent price.", Cobb says with smile. "I'm sure it'll be enough for starting a new life."_

_Christopher narrows his eyes and Michael looks at him with frown._

"_The half of Sydney is talking about your plans, actually.", Cobb says. "Nothing strange, after what happened…"_

_It's a dangerous step to take, yet the whole team accepted the risk; if they want the idea of giving back the parts of corporation back to Fisher plant, they need to take every possible chance. _

_The feeling of fear, that something wrong can happen, the shade of guilt and desire to fulfill dreams- all of those emotion mixed together should forced Williams to throw away their current work._

_At least theoretically._

_Christopher Williams cleans his throat. "Well, we decided we should fulfill at least a part of promises we gave each other in childhood."_

_His older brother nods his head in agreement and Cobb feels a wave of relief washes over him. That's the perfect reaction, it seems like the third level isn't really necessary._

_But where is Arthur? _

_The moment this question crosses his mind, he hears a stifled scream coming from downstairs. He rushes toward doors, when the Dream starts collapsing around him._

_It's the kick._

* * *

Cobb opens his eyes with terrifying sensation of falling down. He takes a deep breath to calm down his nerves and looks around. Ariadne, Eames and Yusuf are already awake.

_Arthur…_

Cobb stands up rapidly. For a tiniest moment Cobb is sure that Arthur's eyes won't open, but they flatter a second later. It seems to wake up the rest of the team.

"Did you manage?", Eames asks fervently, Ariadne and Yusuf have the same question written all over their faces.

"I think so.", Cobb responses hesitantly and notices a long, slightly shuddered breath coming from Arthur. Ariadne doesn't miss it too and she frowns, but doesn't say a word. "But we can discuss it later.", Cobb continues without skipping a beat.

They carry both brothers on the blanket laying on the ground. Luckily it's not uncommon for Williams to have a picnic during the horse riding and they planned such thing also for today. It definitely comes in hand.

Hopefully falling asleep won't look to suspicious.

Soon the van with Cobb, Yusuf and Eames disappears on the horizon, while Arthur and Ariadne rides back as fast as they can to the stud farm. Ariadne is silent and Arthur doesn't press her; they don't have time for such things like now, they need to disappear into nothingness before Williams will go back.

They drive about the whole of the way to the villa, when Arthur rapidly brakes and pulls off the road.

"What are you doing?", Ariadne protest, speaking for the first time since they woke up.

"Ariadne, what's wrong?", Arthur answers with own question immediately.

Ariadne's eyes widen with disbelief "You are asking me what's wrong! Hell, this whole job was wrong! We can't plant an idea to someone's mind by making him feel fear and guilt!"

Arthur stays calm on her sudden outburst. "It's just a part of the plan, remember: we're trying to convince them to make their dreams come true and that was the major part."

"The major part?", Ariadne repeats with disbelieving clear in her voice. "God, they were forced to believe that they were kidnapped, because of their work places!"

Arthur's dark eyes become even darker. "You sign for it Ariadne, too. It's not that you didn't know the plan before."

"I've never sign for a fake death!", Ariadne snaps angrily in answer.

Arthur at least seems to lose a part of his famous composure. "They won't remember that."

"But they will remember the general feeling! Arthur don't you see that all of this was wrong?", Ariadne yells in desperation.

"We didn't chose the take this job. We didn't have a choice."

"Yes, we didn't have a choice when we were forced to work for Fisher. But we had a choice here.", Ariadne answers quieter.

"Choice?", Arthur laughs bitterly. "Sweetheart, is that what you think? If so better recall the expression on Fisher's face. He's getting impatient and we still have one more inception to perform. We don't have many choices here."

Ariadne stays motionless during his short speech, her eyes wide. She has never heard him speaking to anybody, especially her, in such tone. There's a warn in his tone, mixed with pity. And the pity is what makes Ariadne furious: Arthur speaks to her like to a stupid child, who doesn't understand anything.

She wants to do something, maybe hurt him, or maybe kiss him hard until this strange look in his eyes will disappear. The sharp ring of Arthur's phone startles her. She wants to stop him before he answer, feeling that they have to do something right now or a new wall between them will be build, but Arthur's already picked up the phone.

"Yes.", he says shortly. "No problems, we'll be soon.", he adds a little later.

When he starts the engine Ariadne feels like her heart has been frozen.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Hello again:D Thank you for all your responses, especially reviews. I'm really happy to know you like this story so far. Anyway, as for this chapter: hopefully you won't kill me after reading it. In fact I was angry at myself, while writing it:P It seems that I'm just unable to give Arthur and Ariadne a little more happiness... R&R!**

„You're finally!", Eames exclaims angrily as soon as Ariadne and Arthur enters the villa. Both of them doesn't react at this at all; Ariadne climbs on the steps and Arthur follows her.

"Ariadne", he calls quietly after her, but she doesn't stop and walk into the room, they're sharing.

"Ariadne.", Arthur repeats, this time more firmly and with a hint of impatience. She eventually turns over and looks at him.

"Do you think that all of this things we made in Dream don't bother me?", Arthur demands.

Ariadne hesitates slightly before answering. "We can't do such things. It's… inhuman."

Arthur shakes his head. "Ariadne, in this business sometimes we just don't have a choice."

"We always have a choice.", Ariadne protests stubbornly.

Arthur laughs bitterly. "A choice… Do you really think I'd do such things if I had a choice not to do them?", it seems that finally Arthur loses his usual composure. He takes a quick and sudden step to her and when he grabs her by shoulder an involuntary groan escapes Ariadne's mouth. His grip is strong, too strong.

"Ariadne, look at me.", Arthur orders and Ariadne reluctantly obeys. The expression in his eyes, so sad makes her heart break into half.

"I don't enjoy anything which is connected with torturing people, in one way or another.", he says firmly. "But I will always chose you over everybody and everything in the world. No matter what it will mean."

Ariadne stares at his dark eyes, finding herself speechless.

His words don't take away the guilt she's feeling. In fact they don't even take away the anger; she still has the picture of gun barrel aiming on her head. She can't forget the picture of terrified Christopher Williams, who was forced to believe in her death.

Ariadne's full of emotions, all of them are strong.

But anger is the strongest one.

"You're selfish.", she snaps, before she can stop herself. She watches how the sadness in his eyes turns for the tiniest moment into hurt and then he closes them. When he opens them again there's nothing but emptiness in his gaze.

"I understand.", he says calmly, turns over and takes his bag. Within few minutes he gathers all his things. Ariadne observes that operation with wide eyes, feeling completely unable to do anything.

She screws up everything, they have been oh so slowly building with her stupid reaction.

Her mind is screaming that she should something, anything, but she stays still.

Arthur offered her everything with his promise and she kicked him in the answer.

She wouldn't forgive such a thing.

Ariadne watches how the door quietly closes behind Arthur.

Arthur throws his bag on the bed in one of the spare rooms. He feels like he could kill anyone or crawl one the bed and do something, he stopped doing in his early childhood: cry.

Hopelessly, with streams of tears running down his face.

But he's Arthur, the Point Man.

Calm and collected, never bothered by anything.

So instead of that he goes down to the kitchen, to make himself a cup of coffee.

There's Eames sitting beside the kitchen table, with a mug full of tea. He glances at Arthur quickly, scrutinizing him with his grey eyes.

"What happened between you and Ariadne?", he asks casually, taking a sip of his drink.

Arthur frowns. He actually has thought about speaking with Eames, but suddenly it's not longer a temptating idea.

"It's not exactly that kind of thing which should bother you.", he answers, without turning to Eames. Even though he can feel the intensity of the other man eyes, burning a hole in his back. "Shortly saying: fuck off, it's none of your business."

He hears Eames stands up and turns to him rapidly.

"Don't even dare.", Arthur warns in low voice. It seems to catch Eames in the place.

"It's my business.", Eames answer, his eyes dangerously narrowed. "Ariadne's my friend."

"Ariadne is childish in her reaction.", Arthur snaps back. "She agreed to participate, knowing the plan."

"But you didn't miss the possibility to add something behind her back, did you, Arthur?"

Arthur takes a breath, but a sharp: "Enough!", coming from Cobb stops him.

"Go rest.", Cobb commands. "Everything can be discussed tomorrow, when emotions will falter."

For a moment it seems that Arthur will protests, but finally he gives in and without any word walks from the kitchen.

Cobb looks after him with worried expression on his face. "I've never seen him like that.", he states. "It's nothing like him."

Eames sends him an angry glance and shrugs. "I'll check Ariadne."

When Ariadne hears a gentle knock to the door, her heart stops beating for a second. In her mind's eye she sees Arthur standing behind them. Yet, her hope is eradicate with first sounds of Eames's voice.

"Ariadne, can I come in?", he asks softly and Ariadne sees him with gun. His hands were so steady, so sure.

She curls tighter under the blanket.

Those pictures in front of her eyes seem impossible to eradicate and Ariadne is so terribly unsure what to do.

During the Fisher Job she saw everything more like a rescue mission for Cobb. Now, though, she feels like a criminalist. She invaded the privacy of someone and left there unwanted things.

And with all her force she doesn't want Arthur to make terrible things because of her.

Especially not as a certificate of his love.

"Ariadne!", Eames repeats, louder this time.

Ariadne closes her eyes, very well aware that she behaves childishly. It doesn't matter anyway as she simply can't react differently.

Now when she feels so torn apart.

Eames raises his hand to knock once more, but Arthur's tired voice stops him.

"Leave her alone.", Arthur says, but there's no thread in those words, just tiredness.

Eames hesitates for a second, but another quick glance at Arthur convinces his in his decision. He takes a step back, brushes Arthur's shoulder while passing by and heads for stairs without any answer.

Everything inside Arthur screams for Ariadne.

But Arthur isn't the one to beg for anything.

If she wants to kick him straight into the heart, Arthur won't plead her to change her mind.

No matter how painful it is.

* * *

Days seem to pass for Ariadne in almost unnoticeable way.

The whole team is working hard on White case. The whole team except for Ariadne.

She barely leaves her room, spending most of days curled on the bed.

She feels lost and overwhelmed: it wasn't what she expected, when she missed the thrill of Dreams. She doesn't want to mess up with people's minds in such a cruel way, it's not she sign for.

The problem is that nobody in the team sign for such thing.

At first Cobb, Eames and Yusuf tried to speak with her, find out what exactly is wrong. They gave up, when she stubbornly stayed silent, never answering any question at all.

Ariadne knows her behavior is childish and irrational: the only way out of this mess is by performing a successful inception on White and without her help it'll be hard. The awareness of that fact doubles her guilt: she should never abandon her co-workers, especially in situation like this.

Yet, there's something that hold her off: something that has been broken and Ariadne is unsure if it can be fixed again. One day she caught o part of Cobb and Eames conversation.

"She's too young, too sensitive.", Cobb said.

It's what wakes her up, what inflames her dormant anger.

So one days she just enters the living room, which they turned to their working place and takes her usual seat. She feels curious looks at her and Eames sends her a genuine smile.

Only Arthur seems to be unbothered by her sudden appearance. When they go under he gives her the needle without a single word. Ariadne waits for a send, hoping that he'll do it for her as usual, but he turns back, ready to press the button of Pasiv Device.

* * *

_Ariadne stands on the pavement__ in the city she created. But now it so much more detailed, with certain shops and elegant restaurant right in front of her._

"_Ariadne!", she turns over and sees Eames, who hurries toward her. __He grabs her and embraces tightly._

"_I'm happy you're with us again.", he whispers softly and then suddenly lets her go.__ Ariadne blinks and catches the picture Arthur, who stands near them._

_Their eyes meet for a tiniest moment, before he breaks this contact. Ariadne is afraid that he'll run away for them, but he comes closer._

"_I'm glad you decided to join us again.", he says, perfectly polite and perfectly emotionless. Like nothing has ever happened between them._

_No whispered confessions._

_No tender touches._

_No fiercely kisses._

_Nothing._

_And maybe he's right? Maybe all of this things really mean nothing?_

_Ariadne forces herself to smile in an answer, although it's more like a grimace._

"_Could you initiate me into the plan?", she asks, trying to sound relaxed. She takes a quick glance around but Cobb Yusuf aren't around._

_Arthur hesitates for a second, at least showing some kind of emotions. It last only a second, but it's enough for Ariadne._

_All of what happened between them mean something._

_Or rather everything._

_It just hidden under layers of negative emotions._

"_So..", Arthur starts, very unlike him._

"_Whose mind are we now in?", Ariadne interrupts with question, causing a quiet chuckle from Eames._

"_Yusuf.", he answers. "And I'd rather find them.", he adds quickly._

_Soon he disappears in the end of the street._

_Ariadne takes a short glance on Arthur, only to find him lost in thoughts. _

"_Arthur?", she says hesitantly, afraid of Arthur's reaction. He focuses his gaze on her, his eyes dark and filled with unspoken emotion. _

_It is __what makes Ariadne comes closer to him and kiss him hard._

_With all her passion and force._

_And he kisses her back, with such desperation and hunger that they startles Ariadne. She pauses for a tiniest amount of time, almost unnoticeable hesitation._

_The problem is that Arthur is excellent in noticing even the smallest details. He immediately takes his hand from her back and quickly recedes._

"_The general idea is to perform not inception, but extraction.", he says, his voice slightly choked. Ariadne looks at him with disbelief._

"_What are you doing?", she asks, still calmly, as she can't believe her own eyes._

"_You wanted to know the plan.", Arthur replies hurriedly. _

"_You can't kiss me like that and pretend nothing happened!", Ariadne snaps, furious._

_Something flickers in Arthur's dark eyes._

_Hope?_

_Ariadne doesn't get the chance to check it._

_The Dream collapses around them._

* * *

Ariadne's eyes snap open and she raises her head rapidly.

Arthur's seat is empty and the rest members of the team are looking at her with curiosity. She wants to rush from the room, but Cobb stops her.

"Ariadne, I'm really happy you decided to join us again, but are you sure? I mean it seems that you've got problems with adjusting to this kind of job, after all…"

Ariadne opens her mouth, but no word escapes her throat. Instead of that she sits heavily back on the armchair and closes her eyes to prevent the escape of tears.

She gulps through the knot in her throat and opens eyes. "Yes, I'm sure. It's the only way out, isn't it?"

Cobb slowly nods his head. "I guess so.", he admits sadly. "Did Arthur… Did he explain our current plan to you?"

"Not exactly. There was… There was not enough time.", Ariadne replies, catching the meaningful gaze Cobb shares with Eames.

"We decided that performing inception on White is impossible.", Cobb starts. "After a couples of talks with Fisher he agreed with us. Our ask is to find something about White, something that will allow him to blackmail her."

Ariadne inhales sharply. She hates the idea of invading someone's mind yet again, but it's not what scares her now most.

"You mean we have to perform extraction without knowing the object of it?", she reassures herself.

"Exactly. We'll use all created by you levels, even though they are slightly changed. We added a couple of places, which can be treated by White as most safe."

"But why three levels? Is that necessary risk?", Ariadne protests, remembering that White is most probably trained.

"The possibility that we'll find something on the first or even second level is small. She's too careful to let her biggest secrets slip so easily.", Eames explains and Dom nods his head in approval.

"The first level is filled with shops she visits most commonly. She loves expensive jewellery, which comes in hand: there's always a kind of safe in such shops.", Cobb continues. "Since you're again with us... The general idea is that you and A… and some of us will pretend lovers looking for perfect engagement ring."

Ariadne nod her head in acknowledgment, trying hard not to think about person who most probably will pretend her lover.

"In the first level Yusuf is the dreamer. If we find something which can work in blackmailing then fine, the mission complete. If not there's a second level designed. A beauty parlour, exactly as you created it. If we won't successed also on the second level there's still the last one. That one we changed, not it's White office."

"Her office?", Ariadne exclaims. "But…", and then she realizes. "It's the last place anybody would for some dirty secrets."

"Exactly.", Cobb agrees. "But we don't have the direct access to this place, our project is based only on a few pictures and description. Therefore we can't place it as any of the previous levels, it's way too risky."

Ariadne finds herself nodding her head, agreeing with every word Cobb is saying.

Surprisingly coming back feels more comfortable than she would ever expect.

The fact they're going to perform extraction, not inception definitely helps; in some weird way stealing something from mind seems neater than planting something in it.

* * *

Arthur is standing beside the window in his current bedroom. He looks through the window, but doesn't see anything, not really.

Ariadne kissed him.

But it doesn't make the wall between them to collapse.

He can still taste the feeling of her hurt and fear on his lips.

No matter how passionate their kiss was, it doesn't fix anything.

It just makes things much harder.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Here's next chapter, hopefully you'll enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writting it:D Thanks for all responses, keep it please.**

Eames, with one eyebrow arched, observes Arthur's fervent efforts to make himself a breakfast before Ariadne comes down. The warning look from Cobb causes him to abstain from commenting it, but as soon, as Arthur leaves the kitchen he shakes his head in disbelief.

"It's amazing, you know. Almost all the time one of them is in denial, I wonder how they could spend any time together at all."

Cobb sighs, rubbing his temple absently. "I only hope it won't affect the job.", he says sadly.

"Ariadne still doesn't know that Arthur will play her fiancé on the first level, does she?", Eames asks, but Cobb has no time to answer as Ariadne enters the kitchen with curiosity in her eyes.

"I know you were talking something about me.", she demands. "Is there something I should know?"

"Well, love.", Eames drawls, unbothered by Cobb's angry look. "Yes. You should be aware of the fact it will be Arthur, who will play a part of your fiancé on the first level Dream."

Ariadne freezes with a coffee cup in her hand. "I thought it will be you.", she says with wide eyes.

"No way. All our researches show that White can get suspicious about me."

"But you're the forger!", Ariadne protests hastily. "You can be whoever you want!"

"Ariadne we won't make this whole operation more complicated, even now there's too many things that can go wrong.", Cobb interrupts. "Arthur will be perfect in that role and we need a perfect performance as White is most probably trained against Extractors."

Ariadne sits beside the table, resigned. Eames gently pats her shoulder, smirking. "You know as they say: every cloud has a silver lining. It can turn well."

"Eames, don't patronize me! It doesn't suit you!", Ariadne immediately reacts and grabs her plate and mug. "See you later."

She sits in the garden, under her favorite tree. She likes the smell of early morning, but today she doesn't pay attention to it, her mind bothered by something different. Well, in fact her mind is almost all the time bothered by this.

Arthur.

He does everything in his power to avoid her, but it's impossible, not in their current situation. They're working together, after all and living in the same house. It's almost impossible not to run into each other, even though Arthur seems to be able to prevent any situation they would be alone in. When he need to get in touch with Ariadne he's amazingly polite, fucking chivalrous in fact, but not in his usual inborn way; there's something fake in it, unnatural. Like Arthur tries to keep himself under control, not to show his true feelings.

It makes Ariadne furious and confused in the same time. Arthur was always a mystery for her but nowadays it's just impossible to understand him.

They were together, so close, you'd say there's no way to separate them.

And yet they're more like strangers to each other now.

Just after he offered her everything.

And just after she refused to take it.

Honestly, Ariadne doesn't regret her behavior; no matter how flattering such offer is, Ariadne could not accept it, as the idea of anybody sacrificing himself for her is simply unacceptable.

The sound of cracking brunches makes her alerted, even though she's sure they're safe here, at least until they finish jobs for Fisher. Her eyes is caught by the familiar shape of body, dressed as always impeccable, even if not in three-piece suit. Arthur must be unaware of her presence, in other case he wouldn't allow himself to be heard. Ariadne stands up immediately. It's the chance she was looking for: the possibility to speak with Arthur alone.

"Arthur.", his name, spoken with force makes him flinch, which Ariadne notices with strange satisfaction. He turns over, very slowly.

"Ariadne. I wasn't aware you're here.", he says quietly.

"Of course you wasn't!", Ariadne snaps angrily. "You wouldn't be here, if you was."

The touch of his fingers startles her, makes her shiver. She want to sink into this sensation, to lean closer to him, close this distance between them.

It's Arthur who does it.

Firstly he kisses her softly; it's like an apologize and question in the same time.

Then Ariadne responses.

She somehow misses the moment when they land on the grass, tangled together, inseparable. An involuntary moan escapes her throat, when Arthur's hand slips under her shirt, his soft finger tracing line on her back.

"They'll see us.", Arthur whispers, his warm breath tickles her cheek.

"No, no..", Ariadne gasps and tries to focus on talking rather than on Arthur's thumb. "I always sits here, couse I can hid here…"

It seems to be enough encouragement for Arthur, whose movements become more sure and precise. Soon Ariadne holds her breath, feeling grass blades tickling her bare skin. She doesn't have time to focus on it, though.

Arthur's fingers brushes her skin and soon his lips joins them, leaving Ariadne's mind blank.

The wind, blowing playfully on their bodies only intensifies their experiences.

Soon, too soon, Ariadne screams aloud and Arthur joins her with long groan. They fall, entwined on the grass, breathing heavily.

"Ari, Ari.", Arthur whispers into her ear, putting in this words all his love.

Ariadne responses in kiss, a slow and claiming one.

She wish they could lay like this forever, al their worries and troubles forgot.

But they can't: there's work to do, problems need to be solved.

Ariadne takes on the shirt with sigh. She dreams about a cold and refreshing shower.

Maybe with Arthur beside her?

But first they need to get to the house, so she pulls on the jeans on her sweated skin, grimacing at the unpleasant touch of denim on her still extremely sensitive body.

Arthur chuckles quietly, noticing the expression on her face.

"It just for a moment.", he assures her, guessing the reason of her displeasure.

Yet, when they enter the house it's becomes clear Arthur was wrong.

"You are!", Cobb exclaims. "White had a car crash, she's alive but there's a surgery needed. We can use it."

"Isn't she in the usual private clinic?", Arthur reacts immediately.

"No, she was transported to the nearest hospital. We already made some phone calls, so…", Cobb explains.

Ariadne feels the intense gaze of Eames's gray eyes on her. She's sure he already knows what happened during her and Arthur absence; her assumption is proved by a wink and smirk on his full lips.

Cobb doesn't give them the time to do anything else beside grabbing necessary things. Ariadne shudders, seeing Arthur with Glock in his hand, checking it quickly, his eyes focused.

They ends packed like sardines in one car, even though they have another one to their use. No one complains about lack of space.

Ariadne still feels Arthur on her skin, his smell mixed with her, but somehow it doesn't bother her at all.

It's the proof that something happened at last.

Even though a sex in the garden wasn't really what Ariadne was seeking for right now.

Arthur's body is pressed against her own, but his mind isn't aware of that; he's all sharp and alerted, entirely focused on the task in hands.

"Remember, we need to be careful as hell.", Eames warns, his fingers unconsciously brushing the outline of a gun under his jacket.

Arthur acknowledges it with short nod of his head.

All of them is perfectly aware that White isn't an easy object.

Even though Ariadne's heart twitches, when she sees the subject laying unconsciously on the hospital bed.

A nurse catches her worried look and smiles to her. "She'll be fine, it wasn't anything dangerous."

"Ariadne.", Arthur calls her, the Pasiv already placed and ready to use, the team members waiting for her.

She sits hurriedly and stretches her hand toward Arthur, who squeezes it gently, before placing the needle in her wrist.

Is the nurse, who pushes the button this time.

* * *

"_And that one?", the shop assistant asks her, all smiled and polite, showing her a gold ring with a huge diamond in the middle. _

"_Oh.", she says, for the first time in her life seeing diamond, even though is just a dreamed one._

"_It's not what we're looking for.", Arthur's decisive voice sooths her ears and she feels his being placed around her waist."It should be something more modest."_

"_Of course.", the salesman answers immediately. "Please follow me, here we have less ostentatious jewellery. it's rather unusual, by the way. That you're being an engagement ring together, I mean."_

_Arthur shrugs, looking slightly bored and definitely unimpressed by shop assistant's efforts. Exactly as he should, if he want to gain White's trust. _

_Ariadne looks around cautiously. White isn't far away from them, right now she's checking how the necklace will look on her slim neck._

_Ariadne gulps, there's something predatory about that woman, something utterly dangerous. The gentle pat of Arthur's hand brings her attention to the show-case in front of her, which is filled with rings of different shapes and in various styles. _

"_Anything you like?", he asks casually, sounding perfectly calm and relaxed, but Ariadne knows he's concentrated on White right now._

_Eames and Cobb will soon be here._

_Ariadne glances on all this rings and suddenly sucks her breath, which immediately __alerts Arthur. He touches her shoulder in a way Ariadne recognizes as worried question. _

"_This one is perfect .", she announces in answer, pointing on one of the rings. Indeed, it is__: simple and beautiful in its simplicity._

"_14 karats white gold with 13 diamonds. It cost 1,350.00$.", the salesman informs them immediately, gently takes it out from the show-case and hands to Arthur. _

"_Ariadne?", Arthur says and Ariadne knows what he's asking about, so she gives him her hand with a smile._

_Arthur gently slips the ring on her finger and Ariadne wonders if there'll be in the future the time he'll do it for real._

_It suits perfectly, the weight of it feels so well on her finger, that Ariadne lets herself put away all doubts and fears to enjoy this ideal moment in Dream world._

_White glances at them shortly, nut something catches her attention, her sharp eyes checking them a little longer. The usual noise of shop silences as every projection follows White's gaze, Ariadne stifles the urge to curl under their intense looks._

"_On the floor!", the sudden appearance of Eames, Cobb and Yusuf gains the focus of White. Her eyes widens and she takes a step closer to Ariadne and Arthur, fists clenched. _

_Ariadne senses the tension almost radiating from Arthur._

_Will she believe? Or her projections will tear them apart?_

_White slowly knees on the floor, obeying the Cobb's order__, Ariadne follows her, feeling the gentle touch of Arthur's fingers on her back._

_It's like history repeats herself: Cobb, Eames and Yusuf are wearing balaclavas, but their eyes flashes with cruelty and Ariadne shivers._

_They are truly dangerous._

_Eames walks around the shop, checking all show-cases, while Cobb finds the manager._

"_I know you have safes here, with the most expensive things.", he announces. "We want it opened."_

"_But…", the manager protests quietly, fear in his eyes._

"_We want it opened.", Cobb repeats, his voice deadly-cold._

"_It's… I…", the man stammers incoherently. _

_The sound of gunshot makes Ariadne flinches back, while White remains still, only her breath is slightly more rapid, when she looks the terrible wound in the man thigh._

"_Ups.", Eames says. "What a shame. It seems we need someone else.", he leans to the laying on the floor man, who's clutching desperately his leg. "Now you'll tell somebody how to open strongboxes and I maybe make your sorrow a little more bearable. Understand?"_

_The man nods his head, the pain and fear written all over his face._

_No, not a man. A projection, Ariadne corrects herself._

"_You", Cobb gestures at White. "Come here."_

_White stays still, her eyes dangerously narrowed._

"_Let me.", Arthur demands, standing up._

_It's a part of the plan: their researches showed clearly that White would never let anybody play a knight for her. Even though Ariadne can't help but feel a hint of fear, which has nothing to do with projections around them._

"_You?", Eames laughs. "What a courage! You", he says to White. "Stand up, right now."_

_She obeys, her eyes flashing with fury._

_Explanations from the shop manager doesn't last long._

"_Everything's clear?", Cobb reassures himself and White nods her head._

_This time Ariadne stays still, when a bullet pricks projection's scull. _

_White and Cobb disappears on the shop's backgrounds and Ariadne literally holds her breath, prying in her soul that Cobb will discover something, anything enough to blackmail White._

_The sharp voice and sound __of gunshot announces that Ariadne's hopes just has been crossed. She knows that right now White is laying unconscious, with the IV in her arm and Cobb has the familiar frown on his face._

_They need to go deeper._

_It's Eames, who comes with gun aimed on Ariadne._

"_You two, stand up. And be nice, or you won't have the chance to get married.", he warns._

_White is laying on the tilted floor, exactly like Ariadne imagined._

"_She had some homosexual experiences a couple of years ago.", Cobb announces as soon as they appears. He hands a bundle of photos to them, which Arthur takes, Ariadne catches only sight of a young blonde. _

"_Why she hid it?", she asks. "It's nothing to be ashamed of…"_

"_I suspect there can something more than that.", Eames answers immediately. "But we need to have eyes open."_

"_Everybody ready?", Cobb asks with his hand upon the Pasiv. He's staying on this level, along with Yusuf in a case of violent projections. Eames is needed as a forger and Arthur, as researches revealed, is so perfectly in White's taste that it just can't be unused. Ariadne is the dreamer of second level._

_Arthur nods his head, answering for three of them and darkness swallows them._

* * *

_The smell of cosmetics is strong and makes Ariadne want to sneeze.__ She stifles that urge and takes a short glance around: White is just beside her, her eyes closed, the young woman making something with her hair._

_Well, not a young woman. Eames._

_Ariadne hears his soft voice and then a short giggle. It startles her: would really a woman like White want to share her secrets with a giggling 23-years old?_

_Apparently yes._

_Ariadne catches single words, something about men and women and knows that Eames is going the trope: White most secured secrets have probably something to do with homosexual experiences. _

_Arthur is nowhere to seen, but Ariadne is sure he's ready to act, somewhere close. _

"_Really?", she hears a loud exclamation from Eames and a muffled answer from White._

_Their eyes land on White's bag._

"_Can I see them?", Eames asks vividly and Ariadne sees a slight hesitation in White, but she finally stands up and opens the bag._

_There's a small laptop inside and Ariadne feels her heartbeat is more rapid now._

_It's time for Arthur._

_He appears within seconds, gasping for breath and slightly disheveled._

"_Mrs. White!", he exclaims. "I found you finally!"_

_White frowns, looking at him in surprise. _

"_Stock-exchange breakdown!", Arthur adds immediately and those words affects White. She looks around, a little pale and Eames catches her, leading toward sofa, as far from the laptop, as it is possible._

_Now it's Ariadne turn._

_She opens computer folders with shaking hands, scared that any moment White realizes that something is wrong, shrugs off Arthur and Eames fussing over her and catches Ariadne._

_But then she finds a movie._

_It's short, amateur one, the vision slightly blurred._

_Ariadne helps for that. It makes easier to see the details of execution._

_Because that is what this film shows._

_An execution of young blond woman._

_An execution performed by White, with cruel efficiency and unbelievable calmness. _

_Ariadne gasps, when a final cut of knife slices the victim's throat. But then she hears something even worse than pictures she saw._

_The gunshot._

_She turns over just to see Arthur falling on the floor._

_His shirt is stained with blood. _


	17. Chapter 17

**_A/N:_ I really enjoyed writting this one, for various reason. Anyway here it is, hopefully such a quick update will be appreciated with reviews:D Oh, and one more thing: this chapter is next to last, so the end of this story is really close. Hopefully the last chapter will appear until Christmas comes!**

_Ariadne screams, and screams, and screams. She doesn't think about projections on the streets, about anything __but the blood on Arthur's shirt, the open wound under it. _

_She knees beside him, her hand shaking violently and he looks at her, making the last attempt in smiling__, blood in the corner of his mouth._

"_Arthur, Arthur.", Ariadne repeats, pressing the wound on his chest, praying for the miracle._

_And then he's gone._

_Just like that, without last words and whispered confessions. _

_She knees still for a moment, unable to takes her eyes from his, blank and empty now._

_Ariadne feels the hot tears streaming her face when she raises rapidly __and runs to the place, where frozen Eames keeps White in iron grip. Her small fist connects with woman face with all her strength, but Eames stops her from the second hit, grabbing her hand._

_He opens his mouth to say something, but all of sudden the worl__d around them starts crumbling, mirrors fall on the floor and shatter into million pieces, covering everything in shiny dust._

"_It's the kick!", Eames yells and then everything disappears. _

* * *

Ariadne opens her eyes and discovers that she's laying on the hospital bed.

The reality.

"How..", Eames starts, but Cobb interrupts him quickly.

"Chain reaction- we need to get out of here, so that guy give sign to us to give you kick.", he explains but then freezes, seeing tears flowing down Ariadne's face.

The sudden realization hits him.

"Arthur.", he gasps, his eyes wide. "Oh god, no… How it happened?"

"White had a gun, she realized something was wrong and…", Eames pauses. "Straight into heart, there was nothing to do."

"Get out of here!", the nurse yells from the doorframe. "White's coworker is heading here right now, he can't see you!"

The next scenes are blurring in Ariadne's mind.

She knows someone (Cobb maybe) rips her off from Arthur's unconscious body and someone else leads her to the car.

This time they use two cars, as the whole back seat is taken by Arthur. She sits with his head on her lap, constantly checking the pulse, steady and firm under her fingers.

It ensures her that, despite the picture in her eyes, he is alive.

Ariadne shudders, unable to erase the image of his dark eyes becoming so blank, expressionless.

She's empty without him.

It scares her, this horrible feeling of emptiness.

It makes her want to kill White, to be as emotionless and cruel as the rest of the team.

It makes her want to join Arthur in the world his mind is right now.

But Eames won't let her, she knows it.

She feels his strong arm around her when he slowly lead her to the bedroom, whispering some soothing things, which don't really reach Ariadne's mind.

"He'll wake up.", she says suddenly, surprising herself. She doesn't know where this certainty comes from, but suddenly there it is; an iron confidence that Arthur will open his eyes and give her this beautiful smile of him.

Eames's embrace tightens around her.

"Of course he will.", he says softly. "He's Arthur, after all."

* * *

_Arthur chokes on salt water and starts couching violently._

_He takes a deep breath and looks around._

_He's on a beach, the infinity of sea behind him, a boundless of city in front of him. _

_He looks around, surprised, sensing that something is wrong, improper._

_And then, all of sudden, he knows._

_He's in Limbo. _

_So Yusuf's new formula is working, he notices with a hint of a bitter amusement. At least I know, that I'm here. _

_And that means I can go out of here._

_Arthur reaches for his gun, but the holster is utterly empty. It has to drown somewhere in the water of the sea._

_He curses silently; he hates the idea of committing suicide, even in Dream and the lost of gun makes it much worse. _

_Arthur stands up, when suddenly he realizes that he's not longer alone._

_Not far away from him is standing Ariadne._

_She looks exactly like the day she came back to the warehouse, with this slightly embarrassed but beautiful smile, that caught Arthur's heart. _

_Her smile widens, when she sees Arthur is looking at her. _

"_I couldn't leave you alone.", she says__ quietly and shoves aside the lock of her dark hair._

"_Ariadne…", Arthur stammers. "Ariadne.", he repeats this time more firmly and quickly embraces her, the familiarity of her fragile body so pleasant. _

_She entwines his neck with her hands and Arthur feels something cold digs into his skin._

_It's the ring he put on her finger on the first level._

"_You shouldn't be here.", he whispers fervently. "You can't do such things, not for me."_

"_There's no one else I would do something like that for.", Ariadne replies. "Come on, I'll show you something."_

_She leads him to the city and Arthur pauses on the middle of the street._

_The gloomy beauty of that place startles him, the endless rows of building beautiful and horrifying in the same time._

"_Dom and Mal spend here fifty years.", he says slowly. "How could they do it?"_

_Ariadne squeezes his hand. "They had each other. Like us."_

"_But we won't stay here.", Arthur shakes his head. "I guess the easiest way to escape is jumping off one of this buildings, we'll wake up until we hit the ground."_

"_Do you really want to escape?", Ariadne asks, her gaze intense, a small smile on her lips and Arthur hovers._

_They can be together here, unbothered by problems of real world._

_Here won't be any dangers and threats._

_He'll give her the stabilization and certainty and she'll build the greatest place to live. _

_And everything will be perfect._

"_You're just a projection.", Arthur says slowly. "Real Ariadne would never seek for that kind of perfection, not a fake one."_

_The girl beside him shakes her head, dark hairs flies with that movement. "Is that really matter? You created me and I'm everything you dreamed of. We won't have arguments, as I'll always understand you. I won't leave you__. With me you will be at last sure."_

_Arthur's breath is rapid and uneven when he gently puts his arm around her neck. She leans closer to him, the smell of her so well-known and beloved._

_The crack of broken neck is quiet but plain and she falls on the ground, limp._

_Arthur pushes aside the lock of dark hair, revealing the blank and empty eyes. _

_It's makes him sick and__ he falls on the knees choking, almost endlessly, the picture of Ariadne's dead eyes (dead because of you, a quiet voice in his head says)unbearable for him. _

_And there's nothing left in his stomach and Arthur takes a deep breath, his throat sore. __Thoughts in his mind are blurred, mixing with each other and Arthur finds himself staring blankly into the space, not really knowing what he should do. _

_This uncertainty scares him, because Arthur's always sure and always knows what the next step in his life would look like. _

_Expect when Ariadne is concerned. _

_This thought wakes him. _

_He's in Limbo and death is the only escape from here. _

_He need to escape until he'll forget everything and this world around him becomes his reality forever._

* * *

Ariadne lays curled beside Arthur, their bodies not exactly touching. She feels the warmth of him, hears soft breathes and closes her eyes.

It has been two hours since Arthur died in Dream.

Two hours in real world, Ariadne isn't sure what it means in Limbo, her mind too tired to give an answer. She slipped out from her room as soon as Eames believed that she felt asleep.

The sight of Cobb sitting beside the bed Arthur's laying on doesn't surprise her and she doesn't really pay any attention to him.

She wants to feel Arthur beside her, to fill the emptiness inside her, so she slips on the bed without a word, entwines her fingers with his.

She's laying still, alerted and ready , waiting, her faith firm.

He'll wake up and give her this charming smile of his, the one that makes dimples in his cheek and the emptiness will disappear.

"Fisher is here.", Eames appears in the doorframe, the expression on his face worried., his eyes scan quickly Arthur and laying beside him Ariadne.

Cobb stands up reluctantly, never taking his intense gaze from Ariadne.

"If…", he says and she sharply nods her head.

If, when Arthur opens his eyes Ariadne will tell everybody.

But now she just curls a little tighter, her head pressed to his chest.

"I was wrong, you know.", she whispers softly. "You're not perfect. And that's why I love you."

* * *

_Arthur raises slowly, his legs shaking._

_It takes much efforts, almost too much, to walks to the nearest skyscraper. _

_Arthur enters the building, smelling the unpleasant scent of abandoned house._

_The elevator is broken._

_Arthur sighs. It means eleven floors climb upstairs._

_He takes first steps and discovers that once again he isn't alone._

"_I killed you.", he says weakly._

"_You can't kill me.", she answers and the familiarity of her voice hits Arthur hard. "I'm your dream, the best hidden desire of your heart. There's no way to kill me."_

"_I don't want you.", Arthur snaps in response. "I'm not seeking for ideal."_

_She laughs, the soft giggles of young woman. "Arthur, oh Arthur. Everybody does. Every human being is looking for perfection. But it is you, who found it and have the chance to keep it for the rest of life."_

_Arthur pauses. "I would know it's unreal, that everything around me is nothing more than a beautiful lie."_

_She smiles, Arthur knows it, even without turning back._

"_Only at the beginning. You've already started forgetting, don't you?", her voice is gentle and mesmerizing and for a moment Arthur wants to agree with her._

_To go down with her._

"_No.", his voice is more firm now and that gives him the strength to take another step up. _

"_You do.", the girl beside him says matter-of-factly. "Stubborn as always.", she adds with sigh._

_Arthur doesn't react just continues climbing the narrow staircase. _

"_She would never love as much as me.", she says unexpectedly." You won't live through month without argument, you know that, don't you?"_

_Arthur remains silent._

"_And maybe one day she'll go away, leaving you with shattered pieces in the place of your heart."_

_That's enough for Arthur. He turns back rapidly, his dark eyes flashing with anger. _

"_Listen. I won't stay here, I would never stay here, no matter what you say and what you do.", he states firmly._

_Tears appear in her huge eyes, making her look unbearably vulnerable. "But why?"_

"_We can't love perfection. We're seeking it, longing for it, but the truth is we cannot love it. It's like__ a marble sculpture: breathtaking with its beauty, but cold and distant. I love Ariadne not in spite of her imperfections, but because of them." _

* * *

Fisher seems tired, exhausted even, with dark circles under his eyes and pale skin.

"The transaction of buying both Williams brother's parts is almost finalized, which leaves only White. I guess, you found something useful?", he says as soon as Cobb and Eames join him and Yusuf.

"Yes.", Cobb answers wearily. "Three years ago she tortured and killed a woman, her ex-lover. Whole execution is recorded and most probably hidden in her bank-safe."

"Excellent.", Fisher says, but the expression on his face doesn't match this word. "I'm happy it's almost finished.", he adds suddenly, this time genuinely. "You can leave any time you want. And… I hope very thing is fine."

Nobody replies, only Eames clutches tighter his fists on sides.

Fisher looks at them a little longer, the uncertainty clear in his blue eyes.

"I just wanted the justice.", he says quietly.

Cobb shifts his position. "No one in this room will judge or justify you, Mr. Fisher. It's all depend on you.", he responses calmly.

Fisher smiles sadly. "I guess, you're right. Good bay."

With three short nods of the head, he leaves the living room.

"Hopefully we won't see him again.", Eames states, shaking his head with disgust.

Cobb agrees with nod of the head.

* * *

_The cold, sea breeze hits Arthur as soon as he comes out on the rooftop._

_The landscape of the city once again strikes him with its infinity: the rows of buildings are everywhere to see, standing endlessly in three directions. _

_Ariadne, the girl, reaches the rooftop too and stops just behind him._

"_Are you sure?", she asks, her voice filled with sadness._

"_I'm not.", Arthur admits. "But I want to try."_

_Jumping from the skyscraper is as painless as he thought it'd be._


	18. Chapter 18

Ariadne almost falls asleep, tired of crying, the whole tension she's feeling, when suddenly Arthur slight shifts his position. She freezes, at first unable to believe it.

The wave of happiness and anxiety washes over her.

She leans rapidly over Arthur, her gaze fixed on Arthur's eyes and she waits, her breath hold.

Arthur's eyes snaps open.

For a tiniest moment Ariadne is frightened to death, as they are blank and empty, but then something flickers inside them and she knows Arthur's back.

Really back.

And he smiles at her with this beautiful smile of his, the one that makes dimples in his cheeks and his eyes bright.

She leans over him, motionless, willing to capture this moment forever in her memory, when Arthur puts his arm around her, embracing her as tight, as he can without actually hurting her.

"Ari, Ari.", he says, with so many emotions hidden under this short nickname that no more words is needed. Ariadne feels the warmth wetness on her cheeks and starts to laugh, slightly hysterical.

"Why am I crying instead of kissing you?", she can't help but ask and Arthur joins her in this sudden outburst of emotion. She falls on his chest, feeling how it vibrates with laughter and finds herself being utterly and completely happy.

Without any doubts or regrets, just pure happiness.

When his lips finally catches her she responses at it with all her passion, but then breaks it, with a quiet groan of disappointment from Arthur.

"The rest.", she whispers fervently and sees his eyes widen with sudden realization.

The simple sensation of having his fingers entwined with her while they're going down the stairs couldn't be better.

They hear a murmured voices coming from the living room. They come closer when Eames appears, clearly coming back from the kitchen, as he hands two mugs filled with coffee.

Both lands on the floor, spilling the drink within a couple of meters.

"Eames?", they all hear the anxious voice of Cobb, clearly alerted by the unexpected sound, but Eames doesn't pay any attention to him. Instead of that he simply puts his arms around Arthur, and Arthur, to great surprise, holds him back.

"I knew it requires someone better than White to give you away.", he says cheerfully and lets him go, just in time for Cobb, who smiles broadly and simply shakes Arthur's hand. Yusuf greets him with short nod of head, but smile on his face reveals that he's as happy as the rest of the team.

They end in the kitchen, as the living room brings not exactly nice memories of jobs and Eames makes everybody coffee, in a rare show of generousity.

Arthur doesn't drink his, though. One of his hands is put around Ariadne's waist, another one is occupied with his totem. Ariadne silently observes how his fingers gently brushes its surface and sees both hesitation and need.

"I think we all need rest.", she interrupts Eames in the middle of the joke and Cobb agrees with her with nod of head. "Come one.", she softly whispers into Arthur's ear, who obeys her when she leads him to their room and shut the door behind them.

"Toss it.", she commands and Arthur looks at her with frown. "It's the only way you can know, isn't it? Just throw it and you'll know, beyond doubts."

Arthur smiles and she sees his grip on the die tighten, but instead of throwing it, he puts it into the pocket.

"I don't need it.", he says softly and pushes away lock of her hair. "Not with you beside me."

Her eyes scans his face quickly. "But…", she tries to protests, but he closes her mouth with a kiss.

"You're my totem.", he murmurs, before his lips starts tracing a line on her neck, making Ariadne gasp.

"You still owe me a shower from the previous one, remember?", she asks playfully and Arthur chuckles, his warm breath tickling her collarbone.

"I'm sure it can wait.", he responses after a couple of seconds.

Ariadne agrees with him completely.

* * *

When they finally enter the kitchen next day it's almost empty, except for Eames, who's reading a newspaper with strange expression on his face. Hearing them, he raises his head and grins.

"Hello, sweethearts.", he greets them with flashing smile. "Finally able to stand after exhausting night?"

Ariadne blushes, ever so slightly and Eames starts to laugh.

"Don't worry, you weren't audible.", he adds, which causes a sharp look from Arthur, who makes Ariadne and himself coffee.

"Where are Cobb and Yusuf, anyway?", Ariadne immediately asks, willing to change the subject of conversation.

"Cobb flew back to States this morning, the first available flight. Yusuf is somewhere in the city, he's coming back in Thursday.", Eames responses, sparing Ariadne any more embarrassment.

"And you?", Arthur asks, which surprises Eames.

"Me?", he repeats. "You know, Fisher suggested that we can stay here as long as we want… I think, I'll accept this offer. And one more thing. Here.", he gestures at the newspaper. Ariadne takes it and she and Arthur read together a huge headline.

_Is she a murderer? _

Under it is a picture of White.

"I have to admit that Fisher's efficiency is even better than yours, darling.", Eames smiles and stands up. "Anyway, I'm leaving you at this point, have a nice day!"

When Eames leaves Ariadne looks at Arthur in sudden realization.

They are free, they can leave Sydney and go wherever they want.

Apparently Arthur senses her uneasiness as he sits beside her with coffee mug and brushes the palm of her hand.

"Where do you want to go?", he asks casually and Ariadne feels suddenly much lighter.

"I think, I need to go back to Paris.", she admits with sigh. "And then… Then I don't know."

"So we will see later.", Arthur decides. "But now… There's something I have to do, will you stay alone?"

It alerts Ariadne, who frowns and shot him a sharp glance. "Of course I can stay alone, but is that something connected with work?"

"Not exactly and I promise nothing wrong can happen, fine?", Arthur responses immediately.

Ariadne watches him for a little longer, but the answer can be only one. "Fine."

Arthur doesn't have to wait long outside a glass skyscraper; the person he's waiting for soon appears on the stairs.

"Kathy.", he calls her softly and she turns back to him, shaking her head.

"I shouldn't be surprised, should I? You always know where to find me."

Arthur kisses her cheek and embraces her shortly. "Not always. In fact I had no idea you're here, until you appeared in the restaurant."

"Christopher has changed.", she announces in response. "He's selling his company and has already bought shares in the stud farm. It's you, isn't it? You and your coworkers, you made something to him."

Arthur doesn't even try to protest, as his sister belongs to the limited number of people, who actually can read through him. "Are you mad at me?", he asks instead.

Her smile is sad. "I should be, but I'm not. He's happier now and so am I.", she takes his hand in his smaller one, her gaze intense. "That girl in the restaurant… Does she work with you?"

"Yes. She's the architect, amazing one.", he adds and something flickers in his dark eyes.

"I'm staying here, with Chris.", Kathy says. "I won't be able to stitch your wound, unless you take a job here, so…"

"I think, I won't be alone.", Arthur replies and Kathy smiles to him, this time genuinely .

* * *

It feels strange for Ariadne, to sit beside Arthur in the plane knowing that they're heading to France. But no bad, though. They spend half of the flight talking, for the first time not about job, or dream or anything like that.

They talk about movies, about music, favourite dishes and pets from childhood.

It's like one of the first dates, when you want to find out as much information as it's possible about the other person and Ariadne falls asleep with her mind whirling with all this, sometimes unexpected, facts about Arthur.

Paris welcomes them with dark sky, covered with clouds and Ariadne sighs, feeling suddenly feeling completely exhausted.

They're in half the way to her flat when Arthur finally speaks, for the first time since they landed in France.

"Are you sure you want me to go with you?", he asks. "I can sleep in hotel…", his voice falters as he waits for her answer.

She leans to him and gives him a fierce kiss, before answering.

"That's the only thing I'm really sure about right now.", she admits and it cuts any further protests from Arthur.

Her flat has a strong smell of dust and for a moment Ariadne wishes she hadn't have invited Arthur here. He looks so out of a place in her tiny and crowded with all her belongings apartment, that's it almost ridiculous.

"I..", she begins, when he suddenly starts laughing.

"It's almost exactly like I imagined.", he says, which takes Ariadne aback.

"You were imaging my flat?", she inquiries in disbelief. "When?"

To her amusement Arthur is slightly blushing, when, instead of answering, he kisses her shortly.

"I bet you're dying for shower.", he says quickly and Ariadne nods in agreement, stifling laughter.

As soon as Ariadne disappears in the bathroom Arthur sits on her bed, simply enjoying the almost overwhelming sensation of Ariadne around him. Her original personality is clearly visible in every single object in this room and Arthur closes his eyes filled with happiness.

He almost falls asleep when a crack of door alerts him.

A stranger is in the flat.

Arthur reacts according to his long-term experiences and within seconds the skull of the stranger connects with one of the walls with ugly clatter.

"You!", Arthur recognizes the newcomer with disgust and lets him go.

It's Oliver. He stands, confused and massages his crown with painful grimace.

"What are you doing here?", Arthur asks in dangerously low voice and the boy in front of him shots him a quick and suspicious glance.

"I could ask you the same.", he mumbles and Arthur feels a small hint of respect toward him, although it disappears very quickly.

"It's you who came here uninvited. Give me your keys, right now and I promise you'll walk away from here in one piece, even though you don't deserve for it.", Arthur replies and there's something predatory in him, which scares Oliver.

"I just wanted to see Ariadne, to check if she come back…", he explains hastily. "I saw her in Sydney and…", he stops himself, realizing that he's explaining his behavior to complete stranger, without any real reason to do so. "Is she here?", he demands and Arthur chuckles mirthlessly.

"You're full of contradiction, Oliver.", he says, shaking his head. "I think I know why Ariadne choose you, but you have one, huge failure: you can't learn on mistakes you've made.", he leans closer to Oliver, his dark eyes intense and serious. "You failed, failed and put her to danger and you will not see her again. Ever."

Oliver feels his mouth becomes dry. The man in front of him isn't taller than Oliver himself, hell, he's slimmer, but something in his movements reassures Oliver that every trying get into fight with him would be even more stupid than his journey to Australia.

He takes step back. "Just take care of her, ok?", he stammers and Arthur actually smiles.

"I can promise you that one.", he answers and closes the door behind Oliver.

Arthur leans on the wall, feeling the jet-leg overwhelms him, taking away his strength and making the world around him unreal.

When Ariadne steps from the shower ten minutes later she finds him curled on her bed, sleeping deeply, still in his usual suit but not as impeccable as always. His jacket is wrinkled and hair are falling freely, making him look younger and somehow vulnerable.

Ariadne thinks for a moment and then decides that she doesn't mind Arthur in her bed, even without a shower. She nestles to him, smelling his scent, a little stronger than usual but still pleasant.

It doesn't take long to fall asleep.

Next morning welcomes her with smell of fresh croissants and coffee and Ariadne can't believe her own senses, so she finds her totem and checks it.

It's reality, but then it must be: in Dream wouldn't wait for her a conversation with dean about future of her studying.

Arthur insisted on going with her, but now Ariadne isn't sure if it's really a good idea; Arthur catches eyes of girls even though his usual suit has been replaced with something more casual.

Still, the short, but fierce kiss he gives her in front of the dean's office door seems to be a good reason to bring him.

Arthur with a mix of amusement and sadness observes people around him; they are all students and Ariadne should belong to them, not to the world of Dreams.

She almost run from the office, a huge smile on her face.

"I'm still a student!", she exclaims happily. "This year is already lost, but I can graduate in next one!"

Arthur grabs her in his arms, deciding that moment is worth making a little scene.

"I'm in debt.", Ariadne announces, when they leave the collage building and walks on the bridge. "They didn't cross me from the list thanks to professor Miles. And because of him nobody called the police."

"We can visit them one day, I'm sure James and Phillipa would be thrilled.", Arthur responses and turns over, feeling that Ariadne has stopped.

"Ari? Something wrong?", he asks, seeing her face.

"No, no… I just realize that on this bridge I died first time. Right here, where we're standing.", Ariadne answers and then shakes her head, as if it could clear her mind. "It would be great to visit Cobb and professor Miles and children, but firstly I'd like to go somewhere else."

"Where?", Arthur inquiries, embracing her tightly. An older woman glances at them with approbation in her old eyes and Arthur smiles to her over Ariadne's shoulder.

"To the eternal city.", Ariadne responses. "To Rome."

* * *

Ariadne shifts her position on the chair. She's been waiting for Arthur in small café in Rome nearly one hour and she becomes slightly nervous.

What keeps him so long away from her?

She relaxes a minute later, when her eyes catch a familiar sight of Arthur. He joins her quickly, but doesn't kiss her in a way of greeting, just gently brushes her hand.

Ariadne looks at him with frown. It seems like something has happened, he's strangely tenses and unsure, like never before.

"Arthur?", she begins bur he stops her with a wave of his hand and takes something from his pocket.

"Ariadne.", he says quietly and exhaled deeply. "Ariadne, will you marry me?"

Ariadne opens her mouth for a second unable to say anything.

"It's not a dream, right?", she finally asks.

Arthur laughs shortly. "No, definitely not. Not this time."

"So yes.", Ariadne answers firmly.

The ring he puts on her finger it's like the one from the White job and Ariadne starts to laugh, feeling unbelievably light and happy.

Arthur silences her with a kiss and Ariadne leans closer to him, throwing down the coffee cup. It crashes on the floor, hot liquid sprinkles their legs. Ariadne feels her spine protesting against her strange position and the edge of table drives in her stomach.

And, exactly because of that, it is a moment of a pure perfection.

The end

**A/N: Yes, finally we reached the end of this story, the longest I've ever written (and with happy ending, which isn't typical for me). It was fun me to write it and I hope you enjoyed it. Anyway, I'd like to say a huge THANK YOU to Legal-Assasin-006 and Glee Plane for all their reviews. They give the courage and energy to update this story. I also want to say that all your responses were wonderful, so thank you all!**

**Have a very, very merry Christmas and wonderful New Year!**


	19. Chapter 19

I just want to announce that sequel the first chapter of sequel for this story is now available on my profile:D


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